Water Tanks Installed in the Community

Until 2018, none of the villages in the Nyankoba Ward had running water. In 2018, borehole water came to the village of Nyanchonori, but other parts of the Ward still need to walk to get water. Villagers walk a few hundred yards downhill to a stream several times each day to fetch water. Water is carried in any available container. Some streams have small retaining walls and cisterns so the water comes from a pipe rather than from the bottom of the stream to reduce the risk of picking up dirt and bacteria. During dry periods, the local stream dries up and the villagers have to walk much further to the nearest river, at about 700 feet lower elevation. All the water collected from streams needs to be boiled before it can be drunk, which entails additional time and effort for villagers searching for firewood.

Child collecting water from a stream

Before we received the borehole proposal for Nyanchonori village from Nyamira County in 2014, we raised money to increase the rainwater collection capacity from the roofs of all community buildings. Most schools have one tank fed by a single gutter from a small part of the roof. Much less than 10% of the roof area is used to capture water. By adding more tanks and gutters water capture and storage capacity can be increased significantly.  For $2,800, we have added six 2,300 liter tanks and guttering systems, for the Nyanchonori and Mong’oni Secondary Schools, the Nyaigesa Primary School, the Nyanchonori Tea-BuyingCenter and for the Nyanchonori and Mong’oni Healthcare Centers.

Nyanchonori Healthcare Center Water Tank

The tea-buying center and the two healthcare centers have piped water from the tanks to sinks in their buildings. The tanks in Nyanchonori can be connected to the water supply system to increase the water storage capacity. This project was partially supported by a kind donation of $1,200 from the Princeton Rotary Club and by WHO Club Water Walks.

Princeton Rotary Club donation presented by Jim Pachence and Russ DiNardo to Andy Jackson