Clean Water | D.R. Congo

Clean & protected water sources without having to drill?! Say it ain’t so!!

Well… it is, and in the Haute-uele Province of D.R. Congo that is the best way to do it!

This part of DRC is mostly very dense jungle with less than desirable roads. On the flip side, there are a lot of fresh water springs all over making water access super easy. The problem is that open water sources are easily & often contaminated by wildlife, mosquitos, and domesticated animals. This becomes very dangerous for young kids during malaria season which usually leads to very high numbers of kids at the Nebobongo hospital. 

This surplus of water is much easier to protect though! Instead of the typical drilled well with a pump, they are able to cap these springs with a constant water flow.

As you can see, it’s a pretty ingenious way to protect their water sources without too much hassle. While it may be a pain to carry all the materials into each location, it’s definitely easier than getting a big drilling rig into the same spot. Big trucks + thick jungle = headache.

Now you may be wondering… what’s the impact?! Well, in one village alone, we saw 40 less children (down to almost 0 children) admitted to Nebobongo Hospital the first malaria season after protecting their water source. If that’s not a testament to how well it works, then I don’t know what is! The best part… each one only costs $750 to install instead of several thousand dollars.