Cameroon

Project Summary

The goal of this project is to increase the water supply for the community of Bakang, while also making the water supply easily accessible and safe for drinking. For the proposed project, the community has asked for wells to be drilled to access groundwater, utilizing solar powered submersible pumps to transport the water aboveground. Water will be available from a nearby tap, and later a water castle will store the water. Then, the stored water will be transported by gravitational distribution and pumps to strategic locations in the community.

Purpose

The village of Bakang currently has no usable and affordable water supply close by, so the burden of carrying water falls to the women and children who have

to walk approximately 5km to retrieve the water necessary for their daily needs. Even after such a journey, the water from the streams, palm groves, and fields of raffia is undesirable and unhealthy. It is believed that hydrous diseases are present in the water sources, contributing to outbreaks of cholera, amoebic dysentery, and typhoid. After testing the sources, we found fecal coliform bacteria in nearly all of the surface water sources. There is a high infant mortality rate in this village, also attributed to the lack of drinkable water.

Our ultimate goal is to stop people from using these drinking water sources:

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Background

The proposed project is a water supply, treatment and distribution system. We anticipate establishing a continuing relationship with the region of Bamendjou, eventually closing the loop and establish a sanitation system.

The community uses rivers and streams and some hand-dug wells as the source of their water for all of their basic needs, including cooking and bathing. The water situation is becoming more critical each year because of climate changes that are depleting the current water sources. Contaminated water in rivers is one of the main vehicles for the transmission of diseases. Waterborne diseases are prevalent in the area, including cholera, amoebic dysentery, and typhoid fever.

To alleviate these water issues, the mayor of Bamendjou proposed a plan to drill a well to provide the community with a source of clean groundwater. The well will be equipped with a pump powered by solar energy. The pump will feed a reinforced concrete castle with a storage capacity of 16 m^3 elevated 8m above ground level. The castle will feed three terminating fountains by gravitational flow. The placement of the supply fountains will provide a nearby source of safe drinking water for the community, including women and children who are generally responsible for obtaining and transporting the water.

The three main objectives of this project are as follows: to provide safe drinking water to the entire community, to provide the first step in addressing the basic needs of the population, and to reduce the occurrence of waterborne diseases, and thus the death rate by educating the public on safe sanitation practices and providing the means to do this. The population is extremely motivated and willing to organize volunteers for the construction. They are also committed to organizing and ensuring that the project is locally sustainable and have formed a Water Committee of 10 members (5 men and 5 women).

Assessment and Implementation

We have completed our first site-assessment to Cameroon in June 2007 with our faculty advisor, a hydrologist, and a team of 4 students to gather data and gain a better understanding of the community needs and the feasibility of the proposed design. We

have already repaired a hand pump in the village that wasbroken to provide an interim solution to the water problem. After testing the water from the tap we found that it was contaminant free and can provide some of the community's potable water needs. A second site-assessment trip in January 2008 of our faculty advisor and two students presented the community with initial design solutions. Contacts were also made that will help us pass on health education and technical skills needed to ensure a sustainable project. Our first implementation trip in June 2008 brought clean drinking water to the community by constructing slow sand filtration units and installing a solar powered water pump in a bore hole well. To learn more about our trips, visit our in country blog and take a look at our photos.

Where to go from here...

We are designing and raising funds to expand our water projects within the community for future trips.