The villagers, with the guidance of our ‘Water for Cambodia’ staff, hand dug and built 17 wells in the three villages and have refurbished two more. The wells are yielding sufficient quantities of clear water. Each well serves about 15 families.
As you look at the pictures, here are some well facts:
Why dug wells instead of drilled wells?
The villagers do not like the taste of the water from 80’-200’ bore (drilled) wells in this region. In our village survey for next year’s program, we found that in Leab where five bore wells had been drilled in the last year, two had broken and the three functioning wells had a salty taste. In Sala village, six wells were drilled and two are broken. Again, the villagers did not like the taste of the drilled well water.
Please note that when the drilled wells are broken, there is no access to the water. The well is useless until a repairman commeth.
The top of the wells are elevated to prevent flooding during monsoons.
- The Rovai pumps are assembled and installed by the villagers themselves, so they know how to fix them. All parts are available locally.
- If the Rovai hand pump fails, the cover can be moved to the side and a bucket used to retrieve water.
- The cement platform surrounding the well and built-in drainage which leads to a sump hole, prevents water from accumulating on the ground and the resultant mosquitoes.
We supply the materials, the families supply the labor. It
works!