Getting it right...the water committee

The hardest part is the follow-up visit. $1,000, $2,500, $4,000 might not seem like a lot of money, but in these villages where a house costs around $150, the price of a borehole repair or protected spring is far above what these villages can afford in one lump sum. So when we put projects together, we know the importance of creating a village water committee to maintain the project after construction. A good committee will collect enough funds to cover maintenance costs, ensure the area around the project remains clean and conduct minor follow-up maintenance (dredging the canal, repairing a broken fence, etc.).

The bad ones, well, don't. Animals roam in, out and around the water source contaminating it; drainage canals stagnate, forming algae; and women wash their clothes near the water source. Simply what was once a source of life has become the breeding grounds for diarrhea, worms and snails that carry bilharzia. Disease is all to quick to come.

When you arrive upon a site that gets it -- that understands that the spring or well is theirs and it must be maintained -- its comforting. We have spent the past few days visiting our sites as well as projects developed by other NGOs (non-governmental organizations). Getting it right, working with the local community in everything from site selection to water committee follow-up is just as important as getting a hole in the ground. That hole needs little follow-up to maintain it, clean water that comes from it, however, does.

Pictures by Jake, words by Dave. (Apookeni, Oboko and Eyame Villages, Lira District)