Taketake is a rural village of about 300 inhabitants situated a dozen kilometers from the town of Doungou in Niger. Until recently, residents had relied on three traditional hand dug wells lined with logs for their water source. The shallow wells routinely collapsed during the rainy season and rarely provided enough safe drinking water even when functioning properly. As a result, villagers resorted to drinking polluted pond-water, resulting in high rates of waterborne diseases.

This year, however, the village benefited from an EnterpriseWorks/VITA project to provide potable water to underserved communities in Niger, funded by the World Bank’s Development Marketplace and UNICEF. Following the nomination of Taketake by local authorities, EWV met with the villagers to analyze the local need and willingness to participate in the construction of a low-cost, manually drilled well. The villagers demonstrated the importance of water as a local development priority, agreeing to actively participate in the building of the well by providing labor, as well as the gravel, sand, and water needed to construct the concrete pump platform.
 
The well—a modern PVC lined borehole with a closed top and a “rope pump” to keep the water source from becoming polluted (as the old wells did)—is now complete. A management committee has been created to care for the well by collecting small fees from users and using these funds to performing ongoing maintenance, which will preserve the cleanliness of the well area. This strategy will ensure that the well and pump will continue to be productive for many years to come.
 
The well installed in Taketake was one of 60 demonstration wells constructed by EnterpriseWorks/VITA as part of this Development Marketplace project, bringing clean water to more than 16,500 people in Niger’s rural areas and successfully demonstrating that low cost solutions can be successfully implemented in rural areas. The wells installed by EWV inspired other individuals and agencies to drill an additional 52 wells using the same techniques. These wells are 5 -10 times less expensive than similar wells drilled by big rigs and the local manufacture of pumps results in a much shorter supply chain for spare parts.

EWV is entering into further partnerships with UNICEF and USAID to promote manual well drilling across Africa in an effort to increase the potable water coverage, especially in remote rural areas that cannot be served by large drilling rigs.