Sounding the Depths

It was a Water Fest!

It was said that there was a lot of water in a certain borehole, more available than could be pumped out by hand each day. How much? No one knew.

Yesterday’s task was to find that information, or “test the yield.” The trick is to see how rapidly you can remove the water before it temporarily becomes dry. At first I was horrified at the thought of trying to make a well go dry. Then it was explained that water flows back into the area, like when you are digging on the beach near the water’s edge. You have a dry hole and then the water seeps back in from the sand.

Michael, Christine, the interns and the local water officers removed the hand pump from the top of this thin, 46-meter well and dropped a solar powered pump down there. First they started with 4 solar panels and pumped water out. People from the community lined up with their jerry cans to collect water that was rushing out: a day off from hand pumping!

They added more panels, pumping water faster, and still the water flowed. After trying 10 panels, they hooked up a generator and still they couldn’t pump the water fast enough to dry the well. They never did find out how much water could be pumped out.

Thanks to a few donors, one generous one in particular, we have supplies to install 3 community taps, the solar pump and raised tank: this summer’s project.

The good news is that the yield is so high that there can be up to 10 taps in the future. People are returning from their war displacement and settling down in this area. It is great to have a water supply that can cater to the increasing population.