Help Us Bring Clean Water to Wakiso District

We invite you and/or your group to help us meet the goal of providing ten new spring wells in Wakiso District by December of 2008. Water is the source of life yet so many people living in our district don’t have access to clean water. Your donation for construction of a spring well will help us bring safe water to an estimated 845 families per well. In 2007 we were able to construct 13 spring wells in Wakiso District with support from people like you. Your help can keep us on track with our goal of providing safe water sources for all residents in Wakiso District.

According to Wakiso District data from March 2004, it is estimated that almost 50% of the population does not have access to safe drinking water. Wakiso District data further indicates that people may travel as far as 3 km to reach a water source. In Wakiso Sub-County there are only 100 functioning wells for an estimated 101,567 people (Wakiso District Data 2006). To put this in real terms, there are over 1,000 people per functioning well. Contaminants such as cholera, schistosomiasis, amoebic dysentery, other water borne diseases and animal and environmental waste products are known to pollute many unprotected water sources. These infections especially pillage sub-county and district residents during the rainy season when flooding causes severe contamination. Due to the lack of prohibitive barriers, people share these undeveloped water sources with animals. Animal waste mixes with the water further reducing its quality. Human waste similarly mixes with the water due to the fact that most depend on undeveloped water sources and that few families living in the villages have toilets in good repair. Aside from the problem of contamination, collecting water from undeveloped springs and other water holes can be dangerous because people generally perch on wet logs over the water to fill their jerry cans. For community members who are generally very poor it is not an option to hire transportation to travel to the few developed wells in their area or to miss an entire day of work to walk to fetch water from the nearest developed well. (in the photo a child collects water from one of KACCAD's wells built in 2007.)

The High percentage of HIV/AIDS and other disease in Uganda makes the importance of safe water even greater for our residents. At voluntary HIV counseling and testing events conducted by KACCAD in Wakiso Sub-County almost 11% of people tested receive HIV positive results. As is true for children, the elderly and other people with weak immune systems, water borne disease pose a serious threat to those living with HIV/AIDS. Even the healthy suffer from preventable water borne disease yet these vulnerable populations are at severe risk from contaminated water. Many people in our community, especially those living with AIDS, can not afford to go into Uganda’s capital, Kampala, for testing let alone to buy fuel to boil their water or to purchase safe water. As result, sickness is often a vicious cycle limiting resident’s ability to farm and do other work for food and to cover living expenses and resulting from resident’s inability to buy what is not freely available - clean water. People in our communities are dying of preventable water borne diseases. These realities make it clear that well development is of fundamental importance in the district. (Children collect water at and undeveloped in Wakiso Sub-County.)

Wakiso District is blessed with plenty of natural springs. These bubble up from the ground and feed small ponds. Due to their abundance, reliability and the high water quality, spring wells are common in Wakiso District. They have proven to be most economical, sustainable and long lasting of all wells constructed in our area. It is upon this background that KACCAD seeks support for spring well development for wells in Wakiso District of Uganda.

Since July 2007 KACCAD has developed 13 spring wells in Wakiso District. Community members have show tremendous support for spring well development forming work and maintenance comities and assisting with site clearance and building. Women, children and men work together to completer wells. Community support both makes these projects possible and shows that they are sustainable as beneficiaries demonstrate their commitment through their work.

KACCAD will work with community members and our team of technical builders to complete manual labour for each spring. We will be the intermediaries between your group and the community providing you with photos and a final report of completion. A well sponsored by your community group will be engraved as you wish. We also invite you to visit and help with construction along with beneficiary community members. (Community members work together to build a well in Kikaaya, Wakiso District.)

The community receiving the well will be responsible for well maintenance. They will maintain work crews for cleaning and other maintenance. Residents will receive training from Wakiso District on how to maintain their well. An advantage of spring wells is that repair and maintenance costs are usually low and can thus be met by beneficiary communities. KACCAD will work with communities and the district to cover major repairs.

With the avid support of community members and leaders all wells built by KACCAD have been completed in two to two and a half weeks from the starting date of site clearance. We are able to build more than one well at a time using hired technical labor and with support from recipient community members. A well built with your support will be completed in no more than three weeks unless weather conditions prohibit speedy completion. A report on the success of the project will be submitted to your group via email within a month of completion.

To construct a spring well it costs $1,900 dollars. This money goes to pay for materials, technical labor and for KACCAD’s work organizing and overseeing the project. To break this down, we can build a spring well that will serve approximately 845 people with 38 donations of $50 or 19 donations of $100. In the United States you can easily spend $50 on a good dinner for two or $100 on a new pair of shoes. As it’s the holiday season please consider spending your money instead on a gift that keeps giving health to hundreds of people. Let us know if you have any questions or require additional information about well construction. Contact us for a copy of the well construction budget.