Clean water shallow-well and rope-pump for Nyarubanda Secondary School
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- Relevant Data
- Region 🇹🇿 Tanzania
- Sector 💊 Health
Nyarubanda Secondary School is a girls and boys' day secondary school in Kigoma District Council with 1083 students, from which 407 girls and 676 boys. In addition, the school has 27 employees residing nearby or in the school. The primary water source for the school is a stream 2.3km away and rainwater which is not effective throughout the year.
The water challenge has resulted in underperformance among students and unexpected absentees, especially girls. In addition, there have been issues with waterborne diseases due to dirty and unsafe water leading to further absentees and reduced performances in measurement exams.
Due to mandated health rules, the school is on high alert for water needed to maintain a protocol for frequent hand washing and cleanliness.
Drilling a borehole at the school will provide a long-lasting water solution to the school, enabling peace of mind and settlement of the students when they are at school.
The drilling work will be organised by our long term partner Benedicto Hosea and his youth organisation Mboni Ya Vijana.
Why we work with Benedicto
Benedicto Hosea has lived in this region his entire life and has perfected a technique whereby local youth use simple equipment to hand drill down to the water table over several days and then install a rope pump they have made themselves. It's a simple and easily maintainable solution, making it a sustainable approach to clean water provision.
Impact
Building this clean water source will directly benefit the 1083 students, 27 employees' families and the community members who live close to Nyarubanda Secondary School.
Clean water at the school will reduce time wasted on water collection from the stream, improve the health of the students and the community, and improve the academic performance of the students and school.
Updates
From the field
We’ve successfully installed the well and water pump.
Posted 6 Jul 2022
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The drilling of the well and installation of the pump is now complete.
There were minor delays due to sand flow in the ground but this has been circumvented and the pump is now in use by the students at Bugaga primary school.
This clean water will:
Eliminate the time students spent walking up to 7km to fetch water. This time will be spent in school.
Irrigate the schools' flower and vegetable gardens and provide nutrition to the school beneficiaries.
Reduce water-borne diseases and absent days of students on their periods.
Drilling has begun at the site.
Posted 3 Jun 2022
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Good news! Drilling has commenced at the site, and is now approaching a week of drilling down in to the hard rock.
The water table has been reached at a depth of 14m however the drilling will be concluded at a depth of 29m. The current drilling rate is 3m a day so we should be ready to install the hand pump in under a week - providing access to clean water for the school.
We'll be drilling at Bugaga primary school in Kasulu.
Posted 20 May 2022
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Good news! We've identified and surveyed a new drill site at Bugaga primary school in Kasulu, a school in clear need of a clean water source. Here's the report from Benedicto:
The school has more than 1000 pupils coming to school with gallons of water due to a deficit at the school. It makes water access difficult leading to poor hygiene and sanitation for students and the school. Water comes from the stream 3.4km away. Drinking water is an issue, and teachers are not settled on water searching.
Benedicto and his team have surveyed the site, identified a water table at 17m deep and recommend drilling 38m deep.
Drilling starts next Monday, and I'll be sure to keep you updated.
Re-survey has confirmed the hard rock found
Posted 6 May 2022
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The re-survey has been completed, and we can confirm the site at Nyarubanda secondary school will not be a productive drill:
There is very little water underground.
The rock resistivity will block the accumulation of new water, and so the current reserve of water may be depleted completely.
How are we fixing this?
The ground team is now looking to re-direct efforts to another location with suitable terrain for drilling.
I'll keep everyone in the loop as things develop!
Hard rock found whilst surveying the Nyarubanda school site
Posted 27 Apr 2022
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Some more bad news. During a site survey, the team on the ground discovered impermeable rock, which is blocking water from accumulating in the ground.
As we can't be 100% sure the site is non-drillable, Lake Tanganyika Basin Management Board has been consulted to help re-survey using modern and sophisticated machines to verify what was found.
Delays in drilling at Nyarubanda secondary school
Posted 23 Apr 2022
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Due to supply chain issues, we've been encountering some delays in beginning the drilling process.
Fortunately, the supplies were received today. Benedicto (project lead) will be revisiting the school tomorrow for a final inspection of the drill site to ensure it's still a viable site for drilling.