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Well Construction Project - Senegal
Senegal is located in western Africa, bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south. It also surrounds The Gambia, except for the latter’s western border on the Atlantic Ocean.
This project is to construct a new well in a primary school. The community will build a 40 meter-deep bore well, lined with cement to ensure the sanitation of water.
The project will be carried out under the direction of Peace Corps Volunteer M. Van Osdale.
The community is home to roughly 1,100 people, eight kilometers from the national highway and about 20 kilometers from the Senegal River, the closest freshwater source.
Located in the Sahel desert, Goudoude Diobe considers water a difficult commodity to acquire. There are currently two working wells. The first was built in 1993 and is 55 meters deep, the other built in 1995, is 45 meters deep.
Although there are three communal faucets, the water tower that supplies these faucets is located 2 kilometers away in the neighboring village of Goudoude Ndiouetbe, and often breaks down and remains broken for weeks at a time.
The water tower alone does not sufficiently meet the demands of the community. So, when it is broken, it substantially increases the workload for women and teenage girls who must go to the well, starting before dawn, to pull water.
The water table is very deep, and the women (sometimes men too) need to manually pull at least 20 bags/buckets of water each to suffice for the needs of their families for the day.
The principal of the small primary school has shown interest in planting more trees within the community and starting a school garden. This has not been possible to date because of lack of adequate water.
With the addition of another well, the community will benefit from a cleaner, newer source of water. The new well will also set up an excellent site for the addition of a much-needed water pump in the future.
This project satisfies a critical need for water. It arises from the community, and includes extensive community participation. Sustainability is built into the project, and the follow-up project is already on the drawing boards.
This project has been fully funded. If you wish to make a donation for subsequent projects by PCV M. Van Osdale and/or other PCVs in Senegal, you can use the Donate button below.
This project has been completed. To read about the concusion, CLICK HERE.
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