Water Development
When the source is far from the community, hours are spent fetching enough water for a family, and as a consequence, many girls do not go to school. Even when they do, by the time they arrive, they are too tired from fetching the water to be able to concentrate well.
The water development programme works with communities to enable them to have hand-dug wells with handpumps on them. Covers on the wells along with handpumps enable the communities to have clean and available water.
Water, an essential for life, is oftentimes a scarce commodity in rural communities. When available, it is often not potable. Some communities have ‘local wells’ that are not ringed, and thus are susceptible to collapse. In addition, without permanent covers, the water is not kept free of different types of pollution. Other communities have to resort to local streams or ‘water holes’ where they fetch water that is of very poor quality, many times shared with herds of animals. During the dry season when the streams are dry, the communities dig into the sand to find water.
The fetching of water is normally done by the women and children, especially girls.
