maintenance

By A Single Drop Posted on Fri 30 Jul 2010, almost 16 years ago

Hi there

I understand that you set up a fund for future repairs. Can you tell me how fees are collected? Do people pay monthly, or by the jerican? is it free for the students? Does anyone get paid for repair, or is the committee all volunteer? Does the fee collection cover annual maintenance costs or do they appeal to the government or Divine Waters?

Can you tell me a little more about the government engagement/investment? Is Divine Waters and their donors covering all the costs, or is government contributing as well? As the monitoring entity, how often will they visit and what is their specific role? Do they water test? Do they check to see if fees are being collected?

good luck!
gemma

Thanks! Good luck!
gemma

maintenance

By Lifewater International Posted on Mon 02 Aug 2010, almost 16 years ago

Hi Gemma,
I copied and pasted your questions below, with answers.

I understand that you set up a fund for future repairs. Can you tell me how fees are collected? Do people pay monthly, or by the jerican?

Setting up the maintenance fund is one way that Lifewater ensures sustainability and community ownership of the wells. The implementing partner, Divine Waters Uganda, forms or strengthens a Water Source and Sanitation Committee (WSSC) for each water point. The WSSC along with Divine Waters staff discusses the committee, who and how many people are on the committee, as well as how the committee should collect the dues. Typically dues are paid monthly on a sliding scale so that widows do not pay as much as a family, for example. The method of collecting dues is up to the individual WSSC. Most often, community members pay with money or with crops, animals, or other goods. If someone cannot pay, they may be given one month to contribute what they can afford. In general, people are eager to contribute to the sustainability of the borehole and hand pump.

Free for the students? It’s up to the WSSC.

Does anyone get paid for repair? Local technicians are paid a small fee for minor maintenance, which gives local well repair teams (often trained by Divine Waters) a source of income.

Is the committee all volunteer? Yes, with the goal of 50% men and 50% women.
Does the fee collection cover annual maintenance costs or do they appeal to the government or Divine Waters? The fee pays for minor maintenance, and general upkeep. Major repairs, rehabilitations or replacements come would be subsidized from other sources. The government has not been a contributor to pump repair costs.

Can you tell me a little more about the government engagement/investment? Divine Waters has a good relationship with the local government bodies and submits water quality tests, reports, and drill logs to the government. The government coordinates and keeps track of the work done by various NGOs in the area, however does not contribute financially to the projects. The government meets quarterly with Divine Waters to check on the progress of the project but Divine Waters monitors the functioning of wells and Water Committees. These roles and responsibilities are spelled out in an MOU signed by Divine Waters and the District Government. The NGOs with outside funding tend to carry the projects on to completion.

Is Divine Waters and their donors covering all the costs, or is government contributing as well? Costs are supported by the community, Divine Waters, and its donors.

As the monitoring entity, how often will they visit and what is their specific role? Monitoring schedules are being developed, depending on the location and access to nearby roads.

Do they water test? Yes, Divine Waters tests using field test kits for bacteria,

Do they check to see if fees are being collected? Monitoring of the WSSC is done in collaboration with hand pump monitoring and one of the inspections is fee collection.

Thanks for your input!
Julie

Activity

By Humana People to People India Posted on Fri 30 Jul 2010, almost 16 years ago

Dear Friend,
please write cleary how many bore holes you want to install. And it is one than please write more about the area how deep you can get water?
so members can justify the budget part.

Kusum

Activity

By Lifewater International Posted on Mon 02 Aug 2010, almost 16 years ago

Hello Kusum,

The geology in the area consists of crystalline rock, which we anticipate will need to be drilled using a high capacity commercial mud-rotary drilling machine. Because the school has such a high priority for water, Lifewater has budgeted the cost of the resistivity survey which will indicate local fracture patterns, and the depth to water. The contracted price for drilling is approximately $11,000-13,500 depending on depth to water and mobilization costs. Even at this cost, the high number of beneficiaries receiving safe water results is an average price for water at just $8 per person. If the geophysical survey indicates completion of a borehole is possible using a smaller, shallow well drilling machine, Lifewater will contact PWX and request permission to drill additional boreholes to effectively utilize grant funds.

Pat Klever

Activity

By Humana People to People India Posted on Tue 03 Aug 2010, almost 16 years ago

it is good to konw about new area as in South India, in our operational area we get water at depth of 15-20 feet.
thanks for yoiur explaination.
good luck.
Kusm

Re: Activity

By Blue Planet Network Posted on Thu 12 Aug 2010, almost 16 years ago

Hi,

While i understand that you will not know water depths until the survey is done, i am still not clear of the range of depths you are talking about. Any data from other boreholes (about 20 according to the application), water sources, surveys in the area?

What is the deepest the handpump is effective at in the field? The rope pump goes to about 60m.

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Can you also please your number of people getting safe drinking water? I believe it should be 400. That number is for folks who get water on a daily basis. The kids only get it at school and that is a different number.

Thanks,
Rajesh

Re: Activity

By Lifewater International Posted on Sun 22 Aug 2010, almost 16 years ago

Sorry for the delay. The water table in the crystalline bedrock formations in northern Uganda can be more than 100 meters. A resistivity survey will determine fracture patterns so that drillers have the ideal well location. In this area, the borehole is the last option for water; rainfall collection is not an option due to frequent local droughts and low averages. Surface water ponds are highly contaminated and not sufficient volume for the local population. BSF is also not an option due to scarcity of water resources. The project costs includes the geophyical survey, mobilizatino of large equipment ot the site, drilling, pump installation and water quality testing. Unfortunately, people living in these areas are collecting water from very meager springs, that sometimes result in women waiting hours in line scooping wter in a cup to fill thier jerry cans. The water provided to communities will complement WASH in Schools program focusign on hand washing, safe water storage, and safe disposal of feces through latrine use.
This project was designed In an effort to provide a reliable, safe water supply to both students and thier families surrounding the school. Since families tend to number 7-8 members, our estimated beneficiaries inlcude both the children(students) plus adults who will recieve safe water. Hope this explanation clarifies the situation in this area of northern Uganda.