Safe Water for the "Other Half"

Drilling in the Congo

Here's the bad news and the good news.

Hand pumps are very expensive in the Congo.  It costs over $2,000 for a shallow well hand pump.

There is ample supply of water available in these shallow wells for rural poor Congolese.

via www.reuters.com

The amount of water a borehole yields is another key issue. A small community hand pump needs a borehole with a flow rate of 0.1 to 0.3 liters per second. For large-scale irrigation, the rate needs to be much higher, say around 50 liters.

Phoebe White, a water, sanitation and hygiene specialist for the UK Department for International Development based in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, said hand pumps in the DRC cost up to $13,000 apiece but in some areas the aquifers are too deep and other pumps must be used.

In areas of DRC where drilling deep boreholes is required the cost can be around $130,000, although problems of accessibility and infrastructure can push that figure up, according to White.

The researchers say the maps, based on existing geological charts from governments and hundreds of aquifer studies, are aimed at promoting a "more realistic assessments of water security and water stress".

Roger Calow at UK think-tank the Overseas Development Institute, which was involved in the program that spawned the research, said the paper shows water shortages in large parts of Africa do not stem from scarcity.

"What the science is telling us is that we have more storage in these shallow, relatively unproductive (aquifers) than we thought," he said, adding that about 60 percent of Africans still live in rural areas and 80 pct of those rely on groundwater systems.

Calow said a third of hand pumps across Africa have broken down due to a lack of maintenance.

Aid agencies gave the research a cautious welcome.

"The discovery of substantial water reserves under parts of Africa may well be good news for the continent but it may prove hard to access in the near term and, if not sustainably managed, could have unforeseen impacts," Nick Nuttall, spokesman for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in Nairobi.

Water Shortages Grip the Capital of Kinshasa

Water, water everywhere but there is none to drink!  In April, when I was in Kinshasa, the capital of DR Congo, I was shown these privately-constructed water tanks.  They were at the hotel (MPH) that I stay at when in Kinshasa.  The hotel is near Kintambo community.  The tanks ensured that the hotel has water without depending upon the city-supplied water.

Eighty percent of urban Congolese have access to safe drinking water.  While only 30 percent of rural Congolese have access to safe drinking water.  Together, less than 50 percent of Congolese have access to safe drinking water.  

via ipsnews.net

In recent months, no one in the Congolese capital has been spared the effects of water shortages. Where spending entire days criss-crossing Kinshasa in search of water with battered containers in hand was previously the unhappy task of women and children, now men in suits have joined the fray.

"I know of many of my friends whose official vehicles are shuttling back and forth to bring water to their homes each day," says Félicen Kabamba Tino, at the Faculty of Science at the University of Kinshasa. "Here at the university, the lecturers come with their jerry cans and other receptacles to get water at the administrative building."

Fidèle Mwaku, an associate professor at the National Pedagogy University, agrees. "I had a friend from the Plateau des Professeurs neighbourhood [popular for university lecturers] come to draw water at my house in Lemba."

Mwaku says households across the city are doing the same to deal with the situation. Kinshasa's poorer residents have long been resigned to this state of affairs.

"We've been waiting a week for water, and the last time we had it, it came at three in the morning only to stop again a few hours later," complains Judith Kapenda, mother of four, in the Kinshasa commune of Kintambo.

What Does Access to Safe Drinking Water Mean

How far would you safe drinking water?  Would you walk outside of your front door?  Would you walk over to your next door neighbor?  Would you walk to the next corner?  Would you walk 1 kilometer or just over half a mile for safe drinking water?  WHO and UNICEF defines access to safe drinking as being within 1 kilometer of your house.

Most of you understand what is safe drinking water.  But you probably do not understand what it means to have access to safe drinking water.  

WHO and UNICEF provide the UN system's monitoring of progress on MDG target 10. The JMP defines safe drinking water and basic sanitation as follows:

Drinking water is water used for domestic purposes, drinking, cooking and personal hygiene;

• Access to drinking water means that the source is less than 1 kilometer away from its place of use and that it is possible to reliably obtain at least 20 litres per member of a household per day;
• Safe drinking water is water with microbial, chemical and physical characteristics that meet WHO guidelines or national standards on drinking water quality;
• Access to safe drinking water is the proportion of people using improved drinking water sources: household connection; public standpipe; borehole; protected dug well; protected spring; rainwater.

The Congo Water Project Will Serve The “OTHER HALF”

Only half of the Congolese population have access to safe clean drinking water.  Over 30 million people struggle for safe clean drinking water EVERYDAY.  The Congo Water Project Will Serve The “OTHER HALF”!

The project will provide safe and clean water to rural community.  Access to safe clean drinking is most critical in rural Congo.  It was reported that three out of four rural Congolese do not have access to safe clean drinking water.  Overall, only half the population have safe clean drinking water.  Community health leaders say, “Access to clean water is our number one need.”  Water will improve health, improve food production, promote a higher standard of living, and improve education.

The Congo Water project is a partnership of the Rotary Clubs of Indianapolis Northeast along with other five clubs (District 6560)  and Kananga (DR Congo, District 9150).  Congo Helping Hands, an Indiana-based nonprofit will be the project manager and “Cooperating Organization”.  We are seeking additional partners to join and support the Congo Water project.

The OVERALL project goal is to provide safe, clean, and near water.  Initial water quality test conducted in March 2011 disclosed both coliform and e.Coli bacteria present in existing water sources. 

The project will provide water filter systems to provide safe and clean household water for drinking and cooking.  We plan to test the acceptance and use of the Bio Sand Filter and Family Life Straw Filter.

Also, the project will provide water wells to bring safe and clean water closer to rural villages and communities.  With the help of a Rotary District 6560 grant, we purchased a LS-300 drilling rig and two Basic Utility Vehicles (BUVs) for transporting supplies and equipment.  Drilling operations will start later in 2011.

Help us Serve the “Other Half”.  Come partner with us and make a difference!

  Download Congo Water Project - Flyer - May 2011