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Afridev, BluePump, Lorentz, solar… Practical Action pumps water in Turkana

New solar panels installed by Practical Action in Namoruputh, Turkana, with the old solar panel frame in the foreground. Photo: Jane Beesley/SWIFT

A new solar panel system installed by Practical Action in Turkana, with the old solar panel frame in the foreground

Equipping a borehole with a low-maintenance BluePump. | Des hommes équipent un trou de forage avec une pompe BluePump qui ne demande que peu d'entretien. Photo: SWIFT's Practical Action team in Kenya

Equipping a borehole with a low-maintenance BluePump

Practical Action undertakes Community-Led Total Sanitation triggering in Nawayotira, Turkana. | Practical Action anime des sessions de sensibilisation à Nawayotira, à Turkana, dans le cadre de l'approche d'assainissement total piloté par la communauté. Photo: SWIFT's Practical Action team in Kenya

Practical Action facilitates ‘triggering’ in Nawayotira, Turkana, as part of the Community-Led Total Sanitation approach

Practical Action has been working to equip boreholes and shallow wells in Kenya’s northeast county of Turkana, providing safe, sufficient water to communities who previously relied on contaminated or inadequate sources.

The SWIFT partner has successfully rehabilitated seven more shallow wells across Loima, Turkana South and Turkana East sub-counties. These are all now operational and each one is providing safe water to an average of 483 people.

In Tiya village, for example, the shallow well had been dysfunctional since 2013, as some of the pump parts were worn out, and the community had resorted to fetching water from traditional scoop holes along the ‘laggas’ (seasonal rivers). Under the SWIFT project, the worn out parts of the Afridev pump were replaced and the well is now yielding approximately 4,000 litres per day.

New pump and solar modules put an end to long queues

At Turkwel, a community of around 9,000 people, a shallow well with the potential to yield 12 cubic metres an hour had been yielding only 2 cubic metres an hour as a result of a low-capacity solar system. This meant that water was rationed to individual connections and only one community water point was active, resulting in long queues.

Practical Action upgraded the system with a new Lorentz pump and installed 32 solar modules, and the well is now delivering water eight hours a day at around 8 cubic metres an hour. Practical Action has also installed a 10 cubic metre storage tank at the community centre and has undertaken a 2km pipeline extension in order to reach more villages. A total of 4,270 people are now receiving safe and adequate water from community water points and individual connections.

BluePumps end communities’ reliance on scoop holes

Practical Action has equipped two more boreholes with low-maintenance BluePumps in the villages of Lokori and Lomopus, where communities previously relied on scoop holes from laggas and surface run-offs, which are highly prone to contamination. The pumps at Lokori and Lomopus are now yielding one and nine cubic metres an hour respectively. Both serve at least 600 people with safe and adequate water, and women and girls no longer spend several hours a day making the journey to distant water sources.

Plans to install solar pumps at five boreholes are on track, and a survey for the extension of pipelines to more villages has been carried out. Activities under the Community-Led Total Sanitation approach also continue, with four more villages ‘triggered’ in Turkana South: the process of stimulating a collective sense of disgust and shame among community members as they confront the facts about open defecation.

Bitumen, slabs, hybrid power and a trough – an update from Concern Worldwide
Bitumen, slabs, hybrid power and a trough – an update from Concern Worldwide
Oxfam team in DRC shares learning on managing water supply systems – and conflict
Oxfam team in DRC shares learning on managing water supply systems – and conflict

About SWIFT

Since 2014, the Sustainable WASH In Fragile Contexts (SWIFT) Consortium has been working to provide access to water and sanitation and to encourage the adoption of basic hygiene practices in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and in Kenya. Various partners implement SWIFT’s actions in both target countries, in collaboration with governments as well as water providers, including utilities. The consortium is led by Oxfam, and includes Tearfund and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) as global members. The SWIFT programme is funded by UK aid from the UK government under a Payment by Results (PbR) contract.

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