In 1995, Lifewater was asked by the European Union and the Liberian government to conduct the first systematic testing of 150 communal wells in the capital city of Monrovia. Lifewater found that nearly every well had active bacterial populations, with half showing the presence of coliform and/or pathogenic bacteria.
When we presented these alarming findings to village chiefs and government leaders, to our disappointment, they responded with ambivalence and a lack of concern. Most saw no problem with people continuing to drink from unsafe wells, and/or with disinfecting wells with woefully inadequate quantities of chlorine.
Meanwhile, for entirely different reasons, tension was developing between two Lifewater volunteers. They were sharing a room and starting to accuse each other of stinky socks and poor hygiene. Then one of them opened the closet door and found the problem — half a dozen forgotten bacterial water samples!
The stinky samples were from badly contaminated wells. What had been clear water had turned within 24 hours to black water. And thanks to hydrogen sulfide off-gassing, the water smelled terrible!
One of our volunteers who’d been trying to convince the village chiefs and government leaders that their wells were too hazardous for people to be drinking from them decided to set aside science and go with “show and tell.” He showed the chiefs and villagers the discolored, smelly water samples.
Having uncontaminated and contaminated water samples side-by-side brought instant understanding. People stopped drinking from the wells and started asking what to do. As one person succinctly put it: “We cannot give that black death to our children!” Now there was widespread local support for properly disinfecting wells, rehabilitating dormant wells, and drilling new wells.
From this, we learned the importance of showing people contaminated water samples so they can see the “black death” colour and smell the “stinky sock” odour. It gets everyone’s attention!
