Water and Sanitation Development

Mende Spring Well, originally uploaded by amanda.milholland.

We invite you and/or your group to help us meet the goal of providing ten 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 or hand dug 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. Just this year we have already developed 6 springs in addition to the 13 built in 2007. With funds promised for an additional spring well, we are already approaching our goal of developing 10 wells over the course of the year. Your help can enable us to meet or ever surpass our dreams.

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. 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.

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.

Wakiso District is blessed with many natural springs. These bubble up from the ground and feed small ponds. Due to their abundance, reliability and high water quality, spring wells are common in Wakiso District. They have proven to be economical, sustainable and long lasting. At the same time, some areas of Wakiso District can not benefit from natural spring development as they lack springs. In Naluvule, Kasngejje, Namusera, Bukasa and Mende parishes’ residents rely on water from pools, streams and water catchments in the rainy season. When these sources are not available woman, children and men travel 4 or more kilometers to collect water at developed wells or watering holes. During the dry season people are forced to travel further and further from home to collect water. Water collection can be most of a days work. In these areas hand dug wells are the least expensive yet reliable alternative to spring wells.

Since July 2007 KACCAD has developed 19 spring wells in Wakiso District. Community members have show tremendous support for well development through their participation in all of these projects. Women, children and men work together to completer wells and do maintenance. 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 labor for each well. We will be the intermediaries between your group and the community providing you with photos and a final report of completion. The community receiving the well will be responsible for maintenance. Residents will receive training from Wakiso District on how to maintain their well and will form comities to do this upkeep. KACCAD will work with communities and the district to cover major repairs.

Spring well construction costs $2,722 dollars. Hand dug wells construction costs $3,831. To break this down, we can build a spring well that will serve approximately 845 people with approximately 54 donations of $50 or 27 donations of $100. With 38 donations of $100 we can build a hand dug well that will serve people in areas where water availability is other wise unreliable. In the United States you can easily spend $50 on a good dinner for two or $100 on a new pair of shoes. Think about it.