I’m in Ngurunit now. This morning I went to Namare with the water technicians to do the survey for the project. Tomorrow they will go to Lebenderra. Things are finally moving. But today also gave me another example of how difficult the whole issue of water is for the communities in this semi-arid area. We have done the survey but will have to wait until at least October to actually start construction of the tank and the water harvesting wall on the rock. This is because the local supply of water, an open water pan, ran out completely last week. By the end it was more like mud than water but it was at least somewhat liquid so they could use it for cooking. Now the closest supply is 10 kilometers away and even that isn’t enough for the whole population that relies on it. The chief of the area told me that by the end of August or beginning of July, they will start going up to Ngurunit or Korr for water, either place being about 25 kilometers away. Hopefully by the end of October it will rain and we can construct the tank. It is ironic. They get a project to provide water, but water is needed to do the project. One can’t do much cement work without a lot of water. Then, during the actual construction, a lot of water that is actually needed for household use will be used for the cement work. This will mean, depending on how much rain comes, that the project at first will actual mean less water for the area. But this is only temporary. Once the tank is done, the next rains in March next year will be filling both the water pan and the tank and the over all supply of water will increase. And 100,000 liters of it from the tank will be clean. It is a start.
One other thing that hit me today is that just because we got this one project, our work is not done. While talking to the chief about the details of the construction, a man from Lukumai, a neighboring area, came by and started telling me about their own water problems. He begged me to come and write a proposal for a rain water tank like the one we are building in Namare. They have the same shortage of water as Namare with only a small water pan as a close by supply. This had already run out and the people were getting real problems having to take their donkeys 10 and 20 kilometers away every day for water. I promised to come and meet their group one day and help them write a proposal. I try to do as much as possible for as many communities as possible but sometimes the sheer scale of it all is over whelming. In some areas shallow wells can be dug to provide water and these are quite cheap to build. Only $1000.00 or so for a covered well and much cheaper to leave open. But many places digging shallow wells doesn’t work or they dry up during the dry seasons. Namare is one of those areas. So is Lebenderra and Lukumai. For them, the only type of well that might work is a borehole. And the cost of those for drilling and installing the needed pump is very high. Then maintenance is difficult. The whole North is full of defunct boreholes that the communities could not maintain. I have seen that relatively maintenance free rain water harvesting systems seem the most viable for these areas where shallow wells don’t work. Though they are more expensive than shallow wells. One can cost between $5000.00 and $8000.00. If I could just have the resources to build 15 or 20 rock catchment tanks or water pans to collect the rain water, a major positive impact on the water issues in these communities would start to seen. So, I will just keep writing proposals, one at a time and see where it takes us.