Spring Protection Projects
Posted by Admin2 on July 28 2006 14:45
Just take a moment to imagine life without clean water. It?s hard for Americans to imagine not being able to just go to the tap and get as much clean, safe water as we want.
Most people here have to walk quite a distance to a water source, usually a natural ground spring. The water naturally bubbles up out of the ground, making a little pond or big mud puddle, depending how you look at it. The ?mamas? take their five gallon bucket or jeri can to the puddle, fill them carefully ? trying not to stir up the water any more than necessary, heave the full buckets onto their heads and walk back home. All day long mamas come and go, taking dirty water home one bucket at a time. At the same time, herds-boys are bringing cattle or sheep or goats to the same water source for a drink. These animals leave behind a thing or two in or near the water?.and here comes another mama to scoop up the water and take it home?.yuk!
Ok. Everybody knows that all you have to do to make the water safer to drink is boil it, right? But did you ever think about what it takes to boil the water? Fire. And fire requires firewood, which is not so easy to come by. When the mamas aren?t fetching water, you might find them out searching for firewood. When they?ve gathered enough to cook for the day, they take it home. When it was pointed out to me that it takes just as much wood to boil water as it does to cook supper, I understood why they won?t ?waste? the wood. It becomes irrelevant that they should boil the water?.most simply won?t.
Why Spring Protection?
How is it done?
Why does the community need to provide some of the supplies?
What is the cost above what the community provides?
Summary for 2005.
Summary for 2006.
To find the answers to these questions, click here.
Extended News
These pictures show a natural spring before and after protection.
Why Spring Protection?
There are so many things we take for granted here in the United States. We think nothing of flushing a toilet, picking up some food at the store, or even something as simple as turning on the faucet and getting a glass of water. What if things were a little different and instead of pouring a glass of water or filling your coffee pot, you had to walk up to two miles to a water source and scoop your water off the top of a mud puddle with the rest of the community. Oh yeah, this is also where both wild and domestic animals also go to get a drink and you know what a stink they make!
The people of Kenya have been doing this for a long time because it is the only way to get water. Spring Protection is preventing a lot of things. It prevents animals from drinking from the same water as people. It prevents the washing of clothes which puts nitrites in the water. It prevents a stagnant pool of water from becoming infested with mosquitos that spread malaria. It prevents animal waste in the water, which becomes a home to typhoid. It prevents a community from drinking swamp water.
How is Spring Protection done?
First of all, the community has to provide a few things. The land has to be controlled by the community and then it must serve the community afterwards (about 50 families; 300 people). The community has to become involved by supplying the labor to build it along with supplies of brick, sand, and the amount needed for the mason (about $66). When done, the community has to maintain and protect it.
The area where the groundwater is coming up is cleared and hand excavated. A dam wall is built and a concrete box (weir box) is constructed so that the water will be channeled through it. The area behind the dam wall and around the weir box is filled with black granite which filters out sediments. This is not 'pure' water, but it is cleaner than before. It is no longer a swamp, but a free-flowing water source.
The project takes about five days to build and costs the ministry about $1,000, in addition to what the cummunity provides.
Why does the community need to provide some of the supplies?
We made up a "Water Project Worksheet" to guide people through step by step what their responsibility in it is. It's so important that the community feel ownership of the project, even if the major funding is coming from outside. It seems that if this ownership doesn't take place from the beginning, it never comes into being leaving the project to disintegrate because of lack of care and maintenance.
The residents have to form a committee, file the paperwork with the village chief, get permission from the village elder and the owner of the land where the spring is located, obtain a costing sheet from a qualified water technician, gather the bricks and sand needed, make arrangements for accomodations for the mason and collect the mason's wages. When they've accomploished all this, they come see us to get the ball rolling.
So, we've got all this on a worksheet which is now circulating around Kesogon and, I've been told, even a few neighboring villages. The worksheet idea takes away the responsibility from us of having to choose who's project gets first choice. It's simple, whichever committee completes their portion first, that's who's project we do. We're hoping that the funding will come in one by one as the committees get their acts together. If not, we'll simply start a waiting list.
What is the cost above what the community provides?
A water project is about $1000 each and provides clean water for 50-80 families depending on the particular community.
2005 Summary
Protected one natural ground spring, made repairs to improve the flow of one previously protected spring, and have done preliminary work on several others, two of which are ready to be protected as soon as we return next year. This has provided clean water to over 1000 people.
2006 Summary
This year we?ve completed eight spring protection projects, providing clean water to somewhere around three thousand people.
To see pictures of Spring Protection Project's, click here.
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