Boreholes

Boreholes are an integral part of life in Malawi and are often the primary water supply for a village. Maintaining and testing boreholes in the local area is a major focus of Fisherman's Rest. A broken borehole often means that people will have to walk (up to several miles) to the next village along just to  get some water to drink - something that we take for granted at home. 

The past 2 days, while at Mbame School, have been used to send small groups cycling to boreholes in the surrounding areas to check their status - whether they are working, how well they are working and if not, why not?

Tracey, Liz, Hannah and Olivia ready to set off!

The boreholes are tested by counting how many strokes are required to fill a 20L bucket - between 55 and 70 strokes is about average, anything other that and there is usually a problem with the borehole. 

David and Becky Pumping the Borehole

Of the 16 boreholes that we managed to survey over two days, 13 were fully functioning, two were functioning but have issues and one is out of action. 

 

 A Borehole with a Broken Seal 

David and Stevie with the Broken Borehole at St Vincent

Money is raised by the local community to pay to repair broken boreholes - this often costs as little as £10.

It's all very well providing villages with boreholes and helping to maintain them, but the quality of water being pumped from these boreholes is something that may not be considered. There is the potential for contamination of ground water and the presence of pathogens is something that needs to be identified. Over the coming weeks I will post about a water monitoring project that we plan to focus on.