Agweng Shallow Well in Amia Village, completed September 2011

In the remote community of Amia, approximately 35 households or 250 villagers had been drinking water from a channel dug in a swampy area used for growing sugar cane. The channel was contaminated as it also served as a water source for the village’s livestock. In the dry season, water in the channel would disappear, and the next closest water source was over 2 miles away.

When we reached the village, we found that the residents were enthusiastic about working alongside us to meet their water needs. As always, we began with our community training to educate residents on managing their water source. The villagers attended the training in great numbers and local leaders were receptive to the idea of the households contributing small sums in order to manage the water source after we leave.

Project implementation began a short time later, and took only a few days to complete. Amia Village now has a well approximately 60 feet deep that provides the entire community with water safe for drinking.

Amia Village water sources, before and after:

Kuma Protected Spring in Amia Village, completed September 2011

Amia Village had another water source, built in 2001, that was serving a separate 33 households. During the civil war, many of Amia’s residents fled the village, and the water source had fallen into disrepair. Lacking proper draining and serving livestock as well as the villagers, the spring was stagnant and contaminated. Lacking proper health education and the resources to fix the spring, the villagers were consuming water from this source.

Following the community training, we were able to rebuild the spring and raise the water level resulting in another clean water source for this community.

ClearWater Community Trainer Felix working in Amia Village; Kuma Protected Spring after completion:




Corner Abako Deep Well in Abako Trading Center, anticipated completion October 2011

This water source, located in the busy trading center of Abako where it serves passersby and those conducting business in the area, is also the primary water source for 64 households or approximately 450 residents. Similar to other projects we have rehabilitated, this well had fallen into disrepair when the residents of Abako fled for refugee camps during Uganda’s civil war. When the villagers returned three years later, they found the well had been severely damaged.

Similar to all our projects, we held a community training lasting five days – four days with the community and one day for the committee that would be charged with maintenance of the well upon our departure. Before the project was implemented, the community collected funds from all households to place in a savings to ensure future maintenance of the well.

Once we began rehabilitating the well, the extent of the damage became clear, and resulted in a complete redesign of the water source by our senior water engineer. We anticipate that this project, reconfigured as a shallow well, will be completed by early October.

Anyiki Deep Well in Obupyen Village, completed September 2011

Obupyen Village had a rather dire situation with 86 households or 600 villagers using one borehole, which broke at some point in the recent past. The villagers had resorted to drinking water from an unprotected spring that was surrounded by grazing cattle, and contaminated by waste and runoff when rainwater would flood into the spring. In addition, the community did not have pit latrines, which increases the risk of contamination and disease.

During our community training, it became clear that the villagers would have trouble raising the small sum of money that we typically ask of communities in order to begin saving for future maintenance of the well. The villagers were so eager to work alongside our team and committed to digging pit latrines over 15 feet deep to improve sanitation and protect the water source in the future. Although this increased the cost of the project, the latrines help ensure the long-term success of the well and increased health in Obupyen.

Fortunately, when we began rehabilitating the borehole, we discovered it would not be a major repair. The project has been completed and 600 people now have access to clean water. Says a village leader:

“Because we were given a borehole [a few years ago] like spoon-feeding a child, we did not know anything about it when it broke. We became stranded and did not know where to go other than the sub-county government. They said a pump mechanic would be sent and we waited. To our disappointment we did not see anybody. [After ClearWater’s program] I feel so empowered with the training I got that made us to find out the problem with our water point and am excited that we fixed it! Knowledge is wealth.”   - Moses

Children in Obupyen participating in a community training; concrete slabs for the pit latrines:




Acanwat Shallow Well in Oleogai Village, completed September 2011

Oleogai Village presented a handful of challenges for our talented community trainers and engineers. Our initial survey report revealed that Oleogai had difficulty accessing clean water, however we took longer training Oleogai than in other villages. With our projects, it is crucial we feel that the community understands the importance their personal involvement in our projects and it is important that the community personally commits to the success of the project.

Despite initial challenges, we did not give up, and are proud to report that Oleogai ultimately recognized the benefits of and empowerment that would come from learning how to care for their water source. Following this success, we dug a new shallow well, a project that was completed in mid-September.

Oleogai's water source, before and after:




Refresher Community Trainings, completed August 2011

In addition to our 2011 projects to date, we have revisited our projects completed in 2007 and 2008 and held community refresher trainings now that we have a comprehensive training program. Emphasis was placed on sanitation and water source maintenance. The villages we revisited included Teobwolo, Apokeni, Eyama and Oboko.

We additionally held refresher trainings in areas where we completed projects in early 2010, such as Amoneno, Ojul Health Center and Ojul. The refresher trainings help us measure the level of impact created in the community after projects are completed, and helps us identify any knowledge gaps or challenges that may still exist.

ClearWater community trainers Felix and Juliet in action: