Rationale: Beneficiaries should have year-round access to adequate quantities of
water within 1 km of their homes and with minimum wait times. Failure to meet these
requirements jeopardizes health as water use for hygiene will fall significantly.
Our first target is a critical health measure because when wells are located far from their home, families have access to less water. While water use is optimized if pumps are within 100 meters of people’s homes (intermediate service level), people’s water use continues to meet the basic service level at pump distances up to 1 kilometer or a 30-minute total collection time. Beyond this, water consumption drops significantly, putting health at risk (Cairncross S, 1987, “The benefits of water supply”, In Pickford, J (ed) Developing World Water. Grosvenor Press, London).
Although health gains derived from increased access between 100-meter and 1-kilometer distances appear limited, there are other important gains including increased time for activities such as child care, food preparation, income-generating activities, and time in the classroom for girls.
From 2004-2007, there was increased awareness within Lifewater about the link between water hauling distance and girls’ performance in school. Several teachers spoke about girls being too tired to pay attention in school and having too little time before dark to do homework.
It was Hannah, a Grade 10 student and Lifewater volunteer, who made the connection when she and other volunteers visited an African school and spoke to girls who were coming late and tired to classes. The African girls talked about getting up well before dawn to walk to distant water holes. They described attacks by animals and even rape on remote paths. They talked about having to do these chores again after school and having no light to do homework when they were finally done their chores.
In the hot season, water is needed more than ever to replenish sweat loss. Intermittent streams and shallow dug wells go dry. While water tables fall during the hot season, Lifewater wells should continue producing water at a rate of at least two gallons per minute over a two-hour period of continuous pumping. If a well produces at least this amount of water, hand pumping to fill buckets can continue without any need to wait for the well to recharge.
Having a good-yield well is only part of the determination if whether basic service levels are met. As explained below, the number of users and the distance/time to collect water also need to be considered.
During the Liberian civil war, all Lifewater wells were drilled with the LS100 drilling rig. This lightweight unit is relatively safe for new drillers to use, can be easily transported, and can create good outcomes in many places.
After well audits in 2006, we noticed that many of the wells being drilled were increasingly shallow. This was understandable as workers were paid by the number of wells completed, and wells were completed faster and with less physical effort if they were shallow. However, more and more wells were being found where residents complained that there was no water during March and April – the two hottest months of the year. In 2007, a special celebration was planned for Lifewater Liberia’s 200th well. The last thing anyone wanted was for this to be a bad well!
When drilling started in the community of “Sand Town”, the drillers hit hard rock at 45 feet, and there was great concern. This was the depth of hand-dug wells in the area that went dry in the hot season. The Lifewater drillers were told to keep drilling. The rig bounced around and progress was measured in inches per hour. The frustration of the team mounted, and soon they were grinding their teeth and saying this effort was pointless. Then at 55 feet, they broke through the hard rock layer that had been previously impenetrable. The well was finished at 60 feet with an impressive yield of eight gallons per minute! To this day, this is the only well in the area that does not go dry in the hot season. Many other communities have benefited as well from the lessons the drillers learned there, as they now make sure to drill deeper than the local hand-dug wells that don’t provide water year-round. Our head driller in Liberia sums it up best, saying “Drilling is a patient man’s game”. It is an incredibly valuable lesson we try to pass on to all our partner teams.
The World Health Organization has determined that a minimum of 7.5 litres of safe water per person per day will meet most people’s domestic requirements. Those requirements include water for drinking, cooking, food preparation and personal hygiene.
Based on this domestic requirement, and assuming that it takes two minutes to rinse a bucket and pump it full of water, a village of 600 people will require the pump to be operated continuously for four hours in the morning and four hours in the late afternoon. These times drop to three hours in villages of 450 people and two hours in villages of 300 people:
Village Size
Variable Description
600
450
300
Population
2.5
2.5
2.5
Number of people whose daily need served from one bucket
– 19 Litres in a five-gallon bucket; 7.5 Litres/person/day –
120
90
60
Trips to water source each morning and evening
2
2
2
Minutes to wash and fill a bucket
4
3
2
Number of hours pumping each morning and evening
The United Nations’ “Millennium Development Agenda” included discussion of establishing a target of 300 people per hand pump. However, this was never formalized and by 2023 there were 771 million children and adults worldwide without access to an improved or filtered source of drinking water, according to the World Bank.
The United Nations has developed “Agenda 2030” which includes Target 6.1: “By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.” The concept of “equitable access” is explained as users having access to safe drinking water within 100 metres of their homes.
In response, Lifewater Canada has placed a high priority on providing access to safe drinking water across all of our current service areas. After this has been achieved, we will return to these communities and provide more water systems where there is a proven commitment to project maintenance and where there are more than 450 users per water system.
When it comes to affordability, Lifewater Canada’s focus has shifted over the years. While previously focusing on the size of the village and whether families can maintain the upkeep costs, our focus is now more comprehensive – looking at what a community is capable of providing in whatever way they can. In lower income, rural villages this may look different than in larger urban communities. It is the community ownership that means the most.
Extra assessment is required to ensure the population can afford to maintain it over time.
In 2010, Lifewater Canada co-founder Jim Gehrels was having an increasingly frustrating overseas trip. Time was ticking down to his return flight home, and his efforts to bring about change for good increasingly felt like trying to push a rope!
At the end of his wits, Jim phoned a local friend who had pastored churches through difficult times. Anthony came and patiently listened as Jim poured out his frustrations. When Jim finally ran out of words, it was time for Anthony to respond. After reflecting for a while, all he said was, “Brother Jim, you don’t roast a dog quickly.”
Puzzling advice indeed! Cultural differences were highlighted as Anthony explained that everyone knows that cat meat is sweet to eat, but dog meet is oily and tough. If you try and roast the dog quickly, the outside burns and the inside remains oily and unpalatable. To do it right, you put the dog on a spit over a low-heat coal fire for an entire day. Then the oil drains out, the meat cooks all the way through, and it makes a good stew over rice.
Anthony said most community leaders know this, and so they watch in dismay as aid groups come in with aggressive timelines trying to effect profound change in societies that have evolved over hundreds of years. Relationships that start gradually, and build trust, are the ones most likely to achieve effective partnerships and cooperative projects.
You don’t roast a dog quickly. It’s an insightful image for sustainable development that has helped guide the work of Lifewater for many years!
