Stephanie Ng's Visit- May 2012
Like most of our wells, Lower Sordo well was drilled near the riverbed. When I met with Kariuki, our hydrogeologist, he explained to me that the best place to drill a well is next to the riverbed which gets replenished with water twice a year during the rainy seasons. The farther away we get from the riverbed, the more saline the water is due to the high degree of evaporation in the area and the fact that these areas do not receive as much annual rainfall.
The well was drilled during our second well drill and until 2011 had had no problems. However, the river has been slowly changing course over the past several years which is something that neither Kariuki nor any other expert can forecast. In early 2011 during the first rainy season, the flood swept through the region and instead of flowing in the original riverbed, it actually swept through the area where the well is located. The flood was so forceful that it actually washed the hand pump a ways away and destroyed a majority of the concrete slab. We were able to reattach the handle and replace the rubbers but the water had been contaminated by some sediment. Consequently, the community was constantly pumping the well for one a week without taking it for personal consumption in order to flush all of the sediments and particles from the well. After about one week the water was clean and safe again for the people to consume. Kristen visited the area in February 2011 and witnessed the devastating effect of the recent flood. Lucas mobilized the community to come up with a plan as to how to protect the well from future flooding. First, the community contributed sand, stone, concrete and manpower to fix the slab and they did an incredible job to bring it back to pristine condition. Second, the community gathered rocks and placed them around the well as a way to fence the well from the floods. Lastly, the community dug trenches based on where the flood swept through in hopes of diverting the next flood from damaging the well.
A week before my visit, there was a huge flood in Wamba. Despite all of the precautions that the community took, the flood swept through the area with even more force than it did the past year. Unfortunately, this flood left the well completely unusable: the slab was reduced to a circular stand that is one feet from the well on each side; both the handle and the top of the well was blown off; the exposed well was filled with rocks and sediment thereby contaminating the well. Unlike last year, the entire casing is compactly filled with gravel and rocks to the point that Lucas and Paul are unable to remove any of the hardware inside. As for the handle and the top, Paul was able to recover it and it is currently in the office for safekeeping.
Unfortunately this is an unforeseen challenge that we face in the field. Though we are saddened that the community can no longer access this water source, we greatly appreciate the fact that they did everything in their power and capability to prevent something like this from happening.
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