CLEAN WATER IN MALAWI, AFRICA
Since April 2020, we have worked closely with District Councils in Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota and Salima Districts to repairs hundreds of boreholes. To date we have repaired over 600 broken boreholes.
Lots of charities put money into drilling new boreholes which is wonderful but very few organisations contribute ongoing funds for maintenance. Like everything, the boreholes can become damaged and need repairing but District Councils and the communities do not have the funds to do this.
Problems
- Many villages have broken boreholes or shallow wells. People have to travel long distances, increasing pressure on working boreholes
- Some people use river and lake water rather than walk to the nearest working borehole, leading to increases in diseases such as cholera
- Large amounts of wood are used to boil dirty water so it is safe to drink
- District Councils and communities do not have the funds to do repairs
Solutions
- Work with the community and District Council to identify boreholes and shallow wells in need of repair
- Provide funding for the purchase of spare parts to enable district maintenance teams to carry out the repairs
- Provide funding for transport and subsistence costs for the repair teams to enable them to reach the rural communities
borehole repair supplies
repairs underway at a borehole
team effort to fix boreholes
Achievements and Future Plans
We have formed excellent working relationships with the District Maintenance teams where we work and have jointly identified boreholes and shallow wells that need to be repaired.
To date, we have repaired more than 600 broken boreholes and shallow wells, many of which are in remote rural villages.
How We Work
We work in partnership with the District Council maintenance teams and local communities to identify broken boreholes and shallow wells.
The District Councils have the staff who are capable of fixing boreholes but they lack the funds to purchase the spare parts or funds to get the teams out to where the boreholes are – that is where we come in.
$35 a month could support
the repair of a broken borehole
Further Information
Title
Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.
Why It Is So Important
Malawians living in rural locations rely on boreholes and shallow wells to collect their water for drinking, cooking and washing. When the coronavirus pandemic reached Malawi in early 2020, Nkhata Bay and Nkhotakota District Councils informed us that thousands of boreholes and shallow wells in their districts were not working. Since then, we have also learned that many in Salima District are also broken so are now also working here.
Most people in rural Malawi do not have running water in their homes so have to walk to their nearest borehole to collect water. A borehole is a simple manual pump which provides fresh and clean water in many parts of rural Africa. By repairing the boreholes, we reduce the over-crowding at the ones that are working. One borehole supplies water to an average of 150 people several times a day each. Local schools benefit from these too.
Believe it or not, some of the boreholes we have fixed have not been working for over 10 years. Many require only simple repairs which really do make a world of difference to people.
Some people collect water from Lake Malawi or from rivers and some even dig holes near their homes to collect water. This water is usually contaminated, leading to increases in diseases such as cholera. Boiling this water to make it safe to drink uses large amounts of wood, increasing deforestation in Malawi.
What We Have Achieved
We have formed excellent working relationships with the District Maintenance teams in Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota and Salima Districts and have jointly identified boreholes and shallow wells in each district that need to be repaired.
To date, we have repaired more than 600 broken boreholes and shallow wells, many of which are in remote rural villages.
How We Work
We work in partnership with the District Council maintenance teams and local communities to identify broken boreholes and shallow wells and identify the spare parts needed to carry out the repairs.
As the District Councils have no funds to purchase spare parts, Ripple Africa purchase these for them and also provide funding for the maintenance teams to travel to the villages to carry out the repair work.
We also provide funds for the monitoring of the repair work to ensure that the repairs are carried out properly and ensure that clean water is once more available for community members.
The Project's Future
Given funding, we would like to increase the number of boreholes repaired in the districts in which we run our projects to ensure that people have easy access to clean and safe water supplies.
By supporting Ripple Africa, you can help us to fund these repairs which for a relatively small amount of money will make a huge difference to thousands of Malawian families by enabling them to have access to safe and clean water.
To drill a new borehole would cost an average of $8,000. However, a typical cost to repair a borehole is between $200 and $600 depending on the type of repair needed.
Believe it or not, some of the boreholes we have fixed have not been working for over 10 years. These repairs really do make a world of difference to people in such a very short space of time.
Villagers have access to clean water
This project addresses the following Sustainable Development Goals:
