N’GA’NGANGE WATER PROJECT

Excerpted from Mathew Amani's June 27, 2011 Progress Report

Kilolo Star well Drillers Company arrived at Ng’ang’ange village on 24 June, 2011 guided by SPP Country Representative for the purpose of surveying and observing if they can drill a well at the hill area. The identification process was very participatory; it involved the Ward executive officer, Village executive officer, Ward Community Change Agent, Church leaders, and some community representatives.  The survey was done in different places and Kilolo Star Well Drillers Company identified one first priority point near to the Village office and Ng’ang’ange Lutheran church which is close with public settlements; the point identified found at Mtakuja Street which is above 6128 feet from the sea level, also another points were proposed too for possibilities of drilling another two wells; one point is at Primary School and another point near to the Ng’ang’ange Dispensary.

Village council representatives and church workers participating on site identification

Therefore; According to survey conducted’ the Well Drilling Crew verified there possibilities of drilling more wells at the hill areas.  The maintenance process of the previous well is expected to starts very soon at the coming next weeks.

Masumbo Water Project

Excerpted from Mathew Amani's June 27, 2011 Progress Report

Masumbo water Project; is a project found at Ifunda village - Masumbo Catholic church in Iringa – Tanzania – East Africa; this project involves maintenance of one electrical water pump and construction of pump chamber and installation of a new pump which was brought by SPP from USA.

I requested 644,300/= TSH. The amount was given to Ihemi Investment Company for implementing this project, SPP – Country Representative’ Mr. Mathew Amani provided an agreement (Contract) to Aloyse Chawalla. Both two parties agreed “Ihemi Investment Company will complete these projects within 14 days and the work will be full completed on 28 June, 2011 in quality and good standards per agreement”.

Then the implementation of the projects started on 14 June, 2011, we started by purchasing equipments needed. Then the construction of the new well chamber, together with the pump cap and trench for fixing pipes with electrical wires which will be connected from the head of the old well were done effectively;

Well Pump Chamber

Well head awaiting submersible pump

Therefore; this project will be completed on Monday after the chamber got dried and installation of the pump will be done effectively and on Tuesday 28 June, 2011 hemi investment Company will handed over this project to SPP per agreement, and this well due to it’s water level is expected to provides more than 5000 liters of water per day, so due to this there is a need to purchase a poll tank of 5000 liters, I rolled this issue to the mission so as to discuss and see if they will be able to contributes on buying the Polly tank of 5000 as they requested and I will be looking for their response.

Generally the progressive of this project is in good status as the way I expected.

Another Project; was to repair an old existing electrical pump, the pump was repaired and now is working well and providing clean and safe drinking water which is used by the Community members, vocation training dormitories, dispensary, and Masumbo Padre house.   And the pump fills water to the intake of 1000 liters at Masumbo catholic mission.   Generally, this time after repairing process, the well is operating well and providing water which is safe and clean to be used for human consumption and domestic hygiene.

Well with repaired pump

1000 Liter Tanks filled with repaired pump

Mpanga Site Visit

Excerpted from Mathew Amani's June 27, 2011 Progress Report:

It was Monday morning of June 20, 2011 when we started our journey from Iringa town to Mpanga village via Mikumi – Morogoro road; I was accompanied with two people from Kilolo Star well Drillers Company – (A Managing director and Driller Implementer of the company).

We faced a lots of road challenges up to point when we reached Mpanga village in Kilombero district – Morogoro Region - Tanzania, we travelled for more than 550 kilometers from Iringa town to Mpanga village but “all in all” we thanks GOD with all road challenges we arrived and done our works as the way we planned and turned back to Iringa town on Friday noon of 23 June, 2011.

Mpanga project; consists of drilling seven wells and installation of hand water pumps in drilled wells, the project is approximately to serve more than 3,500 people in and around Mpanga – Morogoro – Tanzania.

Mpanga Road

The project will improves the livelihood of Mpanga communities through provision of safe and clean drinking water.   The activities conducted in this tour were interactive and participatory drawing approaches were posed for the purpose of the sustainability of the project.  Areas were identified by the village leaders and some Community representatives; and seven points were identified and surveyed by the consultation team as follows; (Malinguja, Mchangani, Mkunja, Tumaini demonstration farm, Songambele and Kibulubuto), all areas were identified accordingly and considered the issue of distance from the well site to the community settlements.

Then we met with Village leaders and Village water committees and other representatives from the village council for the purpose of providing education about water well management, sanitation for health and formation of water bank system where by the money collected will be used for repairing and well maintenance process and it was done effectively with great success.

This project is very important for Mpanga people, and the community valued it to high level due to the problems of safe and clean water which their experiencing. The current water source which their depending is the river Mpanga, the water in this river is contaminated and not safe for human consumption, water borne and water washed diseases are common and dysentery is a leading cause of death and a main source for this illness is the river.  Mpanga River is a big river in Kilombero district and full occupied with crocodiles, People from being attacked and eaten by crocodile is a common scenario here, According to the available data from the Mpanga village office from 2009 – 2011 June, more than 20 people have been killed and eaten by crocodiles.

Children Gathering water with Crocodile Lookout

Women and children suffers more not only from limited access to safe and clean drinking water but also because of the need to carry water for overlong distance which is more than 7 – 10 Kilometers to the main source of water which is also a home of crocodiles which adds risk for their life.

As usual, I took a long walk on foot down to the river which is full of water and occupied with crocodiles so as to see the status of water used by Mpanga people and to verify the real situation.

Across the river I saw small children’s fetching water behind a bamboo tree fence which was locally made so as to protect them from being attacked by the crocodiles. When I was approaching near to the fence constructed, I got shocked when I saw children started to sprint away out of the river and screaming loudly “Crocodile” ‘Crocodile”. I saw a big crocodile with my two eyes on top of the river hunting children like animals, and according to some villager’s children from being attacked by crocodile is very common phenomena and they don’t have any other source of water than Mpanga River.

A big crocodile in Water, (2011) Children’s are fetching water behind a local constructed bamboo fence by hoping that they aren’t attacked by the crocodiles while another child with red t-shirt is observing the water movement so as to see if the crocodile’s are coming to attack them then he will alert his friends by shouting “crocodile….”so to run away.

The implementation of this project which consists drilling seven well and installation of seven hand pumps in the well which will be drilled, will be done by Kilolo Start well drillers Company, we agreed with them to starts drilling process on 04 July, 2011 and this task is approximately to be accomplished within two weeks.

Other community needs

Mpanga ward – village is surrounded by two villages; Utengule and Ngalimila, People of these villages also are suffering from the same problems like Mpanga communities, both of them are depending water from Mpanga River which is extremely contaminated due to several floods occurrences and many different uses including agriculture, washings, bathroom facilities, bathing of animals, water borne diseases, another problem is death caused by crocodile and long working hours used for fetching water. People of Utengule and Ngalimila villages are still praying to God and asking for water wells like Mpanga villagers because their suffering from water borne diseases and being attacked by crocodile’s every days.

Water resource is an important tool necessary for pushing together economic and social development. Thus, water scarcity in Mpanga is the most important environmental constraint to development, particularly in areas that face limited water in terms of quantity and quality. The major problems affecting the provision of water services in Mpanga include inadequate funding for construction of new and maintenance of existing water five wells which were drilled and installed around 1980 – 1982. Water availability is closely linked to human welfare and health by affecting nutrition status and quantity of drinking water. It also has impacts on community welfare, community worship, household labor because of the time and energy exhausted in fetching water.

Due to this problem, sanitation issue is very deprived and eruptions of water borne diseases and death caused by crocodiles’ are common phenomena.

Poorest people die every day from preventable reasons caused by inadequate water supply, lack of knowledge and sanitation services. Women and children are the main victims of the problem of water and related water problems caused by scarcity of safe and clean drinking water, People are being attacked and pass away every day by crocodiles and water borne diseases.

Mpanga water project is needed extremely so as to serve the life of our fellow human beings.

If possible for the next time we can’ as we used do’ Utengule and Ngalimila people should be considered so as to serve and improves their life prosperous of more than 7530 people through provision of safe and clean drinking water.

Ipalamwa Pump Installation

The crew did not leave for Ipalamwa until about 1 PM after arranging a 4WD pickup truck to haul a 5000 liter Polytank.  Fortunately, the roads are good right now with only a few bad spots.  We had Engineer Byemerwa, Fredy the Hydrotech well man, a plumber, electrician, and driver using the government car.  Once in Ipalamwa, the students started digging a trench from the well site to a raised location for the Polytank and we started connecting 100 meters of wire from the generator to the well site with the students putting in poles to suspend the wire.  The polytank and pipe got there after an hour or so and we started setting up the pump.  The well is 100 meters deep (we must have had our test bottle wedge when we measured it less deep at the site visit) and from the drill report we set the pump at 70 meters in a layer of fractured granite.

It was getting dark by the time we were ready to power the pump.  The students, in their haste to do things, had filled in the trench with the pipe before we made connections and of course we were about 6 inches short on pipe and had to splice in a section.  The generator was producing a wide range of voltages from 180 to 340 but the pump is supposed to operate over a wide range so we connected it up and after some stops for under voltage started pumping water to the polytank.  The students started collecting some water from the outlet and were screaming with excitement to see clean water that they did not have to carry from a couple kilometers away.  Then the flow started surging and we went through a process of checking connections and eventually had to leave because it was 10:30 PM.  We hadn't eaten since breakfast and as we were getting ready to leave we were brought in to a room lit by the generator for dinner of chicken and boiled plantains.  We left about 11 and the crew dropped me off at the next village of Kising'a for the night so I could visit my partner village.  The crew headed into town to pick up a better main switch for the generator house, a switch for the control panel, and wire for tensioning the utility poles.

The crew must have gotten to Iringa around 1 AM and were back to pick me up a little after noon.  We went out to Ipalamwa and added the switches, finished the utility poles, and started pumping again with good flow at first, then surging with flow followed by 2 to 12 second breaks with no flow.  Eventually we got a No Contact error indicating the control box was not communicating with the pump and flow stopped.  It was 8 PM and we were pretty discouraged not knowing if something was wrong with the pump or what the problem was.  We had pumped 1000 liters the first night and this had met the schools needs for the morning and pumped about 800 liters this night.  We went in for dinner again of rice, chicken, and bananas.  I anticipated a second dinner in Kising'a and ate lightly.  The crew dropped me off in Kising'a for the night again and I took the bus back to Iringa in the morning, leaving Kising'a at 5 AM.

The next day Byemerwa called and said we had to go back.  The control box has so many error events that if the pump was burned out we should have seen other errors.  Since Byemerwa had to leave Saturday for meetings up north, I called Dennis and arranged a vehicle to go back and double check the pump installation.  Leo came with the car and Fredy and I went back to Ipalamwa.  We pulled the pump and inspected the entire length of wire, taping a couple nicks, and redoing the splices.  We started the pump up again and after a couple No Contact readings, it started up.  Fredy brought a "Deeper" which is a lightweight tape with meter markings and a heavy probe on the end that beeps when it is in water.  We used this to watch the top of the water column while we adjusted the flow from the pump by changing pump speed and turning a check valve.  The water column stabilized at 47 meters from 26 meters leaving quite a bit of water above the pump.  Flow rate was about 1000 liters per hour and the water was crystal clear.   We felt good until the No Contact message came back again.  The second master had pointed out to me that the pulley on the motor had a lot of play and it seems that the generator is not able to sustain driving the pump.  We left feeling confident that the pump is installed correctly and is working but the generator needs to be overhauled or replaced.  This was verified when we got back to the Lutheran Centre and I spoke to Brian from Lake Park who had big generator driven irrigation pumps on his farm and he told me he sees similar problems including No Contact errors when the generators are not stable.  The electronics in the control panels expect stable voltage and will shut down to protect the system.

Loading up the 5000 liter Polytank

Football game next to the well with a Barack wannabe.

Putting up the utility poles

View from Ipalamwa School

Control Panel with switch and lightning arrestor

Fredy with Primary Student audience

Polytank connected in position

Water pumping into Polytank

Kising'a Bus

Flow testing with Deeper and stop watch.

Clear as can be ready to drink

Well Head

Water tap outlet below sim tank by dorms and kitchen

Image Well Status

Engineer Byemerwa went out to Image again to check the performance of the pump and collect a water sample.  He also needed to check a new water source at the base of the mountain that was to be inaugurated  the next day with a celebration with the Kilolo acting commissioner.  The extra pipe had been sent and used to connect all the way to the 3000 liter tank at the kitchen.  This tank was filled from the well the night before in an hour. 

  We started the pump again and ran at full speed to see if any dry run errors occurred.  It looks like the well can deliver about 3000 liters of water running at full speed.  There is a tee at the kitchen tank that connects to a water system that can fill the 2000 liter tanks at the 6 dorms and also connect to the 5000 liter tank.  Image has an experienced water system technician who can do this work.  The only warning messages we saw were undervoltage readings at 210 V which the generator is not quite stable.  The pump speed was slightly reduced when these warnings occurred (from 10,700 to 10,400) and the motor stop point for undervoltage isn't hit until 150 V.  The pump temperature was running at 56 C (Shut off temp is 85 C and restart temp is 75 C so this is running cool).

We collected a water sample at the end of the pipe using a sterile whirl pack and set up two colilert tubes to test for bacterial contamination.  After 17 hours of incubation attached to my body they show no contamination.  I tasted a little bit of the water and it is not salty but there is some fine silt that makes the water cloudy coming from the well.  This silt settled from the water sample in the whirl pack overnight to leave totally clear, colorless water.
 

Kitchen Tank has tap in kitchen near by.

Tee at tank, left to girls dorms and right to boys.

Termite mud trail leading up to ceiling, trail to the left had been broken.

Termite damage at window in computer room where control box is mounted.

Image Pump Installation

 We went to Image to install the pump on Saturday(3/19).  Matthew Amani, a recent Tumaini Community Development Graduate, met me at 7 over breakfast and shortly after 7:30 Byemerwa came with a driver, electrician and two plumbers.  The 7 of us packed into the car and hoped that the rain and government vehicle would keep us from being stopped for too many passengers.  The rain stopped as we arrived at Image and the team jumped into action.  The Headmaster arranged to have the students start digging trenches for water pipe to go to the 3000 liter tank at the Kitchen and to lay electrical cable to the nearby computer room.  We were lucky that the Computer lab has a main control box for the generator circuit and we were able to add a circuit breaker for our pump.  The electrician went to work mounting the Grundfoss control box on the wall and wiring it to the main line. Image has a man who manages their water system, Robert Magina, who was excited to see that the pump comes from Denmark.  He spent 3 years in Denmark working with Danida on water projects.  Image is lucky to have an experienced person to manage their water system.

The plumbers assembled the well head with a water meter, shutoff valve and connections to the 1.5 inch pipe. We brought 200 meters of 1.5 inch pipe but were 50 meters short to reach the tank at the kitchen.  We measured the well depth again and got 65 meters so the pump was installed at 60 meters to leave room for sediment.  The pump was assembled and we had to use candles to heat shrink the waterproof splices.  The pump was lowered into the bore hole and connected to the main power.  Engineer Byemerwa hit the on button and the pump immediately started gushing water out of the well.  An initial low voltage warning (190 volts) was corrected at the main control box and we reversed the wiring to make sure we had the correct pump rotation.

Students started collecting water right away and the pump was filling a 10 liter pail in 8 seconds.  The water was cloudy but we expect that to clear as we continue to pump out the well.  The headmaster again tested the water for biological contamination by taking the first drink from the well.  Byemerwa cautioned them that the water needs to be tested before it should be drunk but I think they are so happy to have water that it will be used anyway.  Byemerwa has water testing materials for ecoli and had a nice pamphlet from a UN program on how to test.  The materials they recommend are Colilert tubes and 3M Petri film plates, both of which I have used in the past.  I hope to bring back a copy of the pamphlet to 3M to make sure they are aware of it. We left Image just as it got dark (after failing to find the extra 50 meters of pipe in Ilula) and got back to the Lutheran Centre at 8 PM after watching a spectacular sky as the sun set. 

Students digging 650' trench to kitchen.

Control box with main box in center and solar system on right.

Connecting pipe to well head.

Lowering pump, Mathew Amani is facing  in center w striped shirt

First water, everyone wanted to touch and splash their faces

The Headmaster preparing the test for biological contamination.

Byemerwa and Magina discussing final installation details.

The connected well head, they will construct a brick box to protect it.

Ihimbo Solar Pump

I visited Ihimbo on Sunday with the Kilolo Star crew. They videotaped at Ihimbo Lutheran parish. Ron showed me the solar pump that Kilolo Star installed at Ihimbo Dispensary for St Paul Partners.  The pump was working well and is connected to a 2000 liter storage tank which is plumbed to a bank of toilets and showers for patients.  The solar panels come from the US and the pump and control box comes from China. Ron said that the same pump is commonly used in the Western US.  The well is 70' deep and they drilled through 30 ' of rock to get water.   There is one water tap that has been used by the village because it is easier than pumping with the adjacent hand pump.  At Church, Kilolo Star was thanked for the wells for the dispensary and a request for more wells was made to serve the 2500 people in the village.  They mentioned a government well which is no longer working and perhaps that will be a well we can restore as part of our well restoration and sustainability program.

The well head with power coming in black tube.

Ron in front of the solar panel.

The

The well head and the raised storage tank.

The adjacent Kilolo Star hand pump well.

Ipalamwa Site Visit

Engineer Byemerwa met me at 7:30 again to visit the well site at Ipalamwa. We first visited the Kilolo Star well drilling operation in Kilolo which Engineer Byemerwa had not visited before.  Then we stopped at the Kilolo District water engineer's office where I found out that the government engineers are surveying all the water source points in Tanzania starting in Iringa Region.  The Kilolo District Water Engineer, Abdi Andalu, showed me an Excel spreadsheet where they are recording gps and functioning status for each well.  They are also taking photos of each source.  These reports will be valuable to us to determine the status of the wells we have had drilled.  I took his email address so I can send him the GOWGOL well logs to add information to their database. The driver stopped at one point to get out and Engineer Byemerwa remarked that he was "Inspecting a Bore Hole".  That is Water Engineer version of "Checking the Tires".   We went through Kising'a, which is my church's partner village and delivered medical supplies purchased by Lutheran Church of Peace for the Kising'a dispensary.  We continued on to Ipalamwa on a beautiful day with dry roads.  This was my first time visiting Ipalamwa and Lutheran Church has sponsored many Kising'a students at the Ipalamwa school.

I first met with the Headmaster, Rev. Ombeni Sawike, and she explained the water situation at Ipalamwa.  They have 300 students and are collecting water from a river source about 1 km away.  Water gets added to a 1000 liter storage tank and many students have been ill from the water.

We then went to the well site and found it capped with a tree stump.  We used a weighted water bottle on a cable to collect a sample of water and measure the depth and water level of the well. We found water at 26 meters and the bottom of the well was at 59 meters.  The 33 meter column of water sounds good but what really matters is the recharge rate.  It was reported to be 1000 liters/hour by the drilling contractor but it appears that the well has not been developed and had a proper pumping test yet.  There was sediment on the bottle when it was pulled up from the bottom.

We next checked out the generator and water storage capability.  All they have for storage is a 1000 liter tank that is set up to collect rain water but right now is used to receive the buckets of river water brought up by the students.  A rule of thumb for water usage at a school with pit toilets is 25 liters  per student day so 300 students should need 7500 liters of water per day.  They need at least two 5000 liter storage tanks mounted on raised supports for water pressure.  Engineer Byemerwa says that a 5000 liter tank costs 600,000 while a 10,000 liter tank is 2,000,000 so two tanks is the best deal and allows water to be pumped to two locations.  If the 1000 liters per hour rate is accurate for the well, they will need to run the generator longer than the current 4 hours or we will need a solar power to pump all day.

The generator they have is a 7.5 KW generator driven by a diesel engine.  This engine is also used to drive a maize miller for making ugali flour.  The headmaster said their fuel consumption is only 3 liters per 4 hours of operation which is much less (1/10) than at Image.  Perhaps because they have shorter distances and are just using it to light a few buildings. We measured the distance from the generator to the bore hole to be 100 meters.  As we left, we saw several students who were ill resting in the shade looking very uncomfortable.  We took four of the students with us to drop them off at their home dispensaries in Kising'a and Lulanzi.

Meeting with the Headmaster

Examining the Bore Hole

The 1000 liter storage tank

The river water in the tank

Generator with maize miller at right

Sick students waiting in shade

Image Site Visit

Engineer Byemerwa met me at 7:30 this morning with a plumber and driver to go to Image and inspect the well site to determine what we need for installation.  The bore hole is right in the middle of the Image Secondary School campus.  Image secondary school has 850 students, almost half girls, and 36 teachers. Their water now has to come from a town supply about 1 km away.  This means that many students spend what should be class time carrying water.

The bore hole was partially open with just a plastic covering and a few bags of gravel pack around the top.  We were told the well was 100 meters and decided to try to collect a water sample with a plastic water bottle with a rock to weigh it down.

We hit water at about 25 meters and it came up looking clear and clean. The headmaster was eager to taste it because he was worried it might be salty. We discouraged this because the well had not been treated with chlorine and could be contaminated but he tested the water for both salt and bacteria by taking a taste. We are still waiting for the bacteria test results.

The cord pulled up from the bottom measures 33 meters doubled over so the well depth is 66 meters or twice as long as the distance you see in this picture.  Since we hit water at 25 meters, that means we have a 41 meter water column.  The 66 meter depth does not mesh with the 100 meters reported and we still do not know what the replenish rate will be when we start pumping.

 Image school has 10 water storage containers, 2 2000 liter tanks at the admin block, a 5000 liter tank near the football field, 6 2000 liter tanks at each of 6 dorms, and one 3000 liter tank at the kitchen.  Right now all are empty.  The tanks by the dorms are piped to each bathroom stall for wash water.  All the tanks are connected with plumbing so we only have to connect our well to a couple connection points and add valving to control which tanks get filled.

It takes a lot of water to feed 850 students.  The kitchen has huge cooking bowls on a fire hearth for making wali (cooked rice), ugali (maize flour paste) and porridge.

Image school runs a generator from 7 PM to 11 PM so students can study with the lit classrooms. This will also be the source of power for the submersible pump. The generator consumes 8-10 liters/night for 4 hours, 7 nights per week. They pick up diesel in 60 liter drums and a nights consumption costs about $12.

While I was touring the campus to check on the storage tanks Byemerwa went to look at a potential spring source in the mountains nearby.  They also are thinking of bringing water down from this source (like the water in the town) for additional volume for things like washing and irrigation.  The mountains above Image are beautiful.

I also toured the computer and science labs.  I brought DVDs and a flash drive with educational materials but the computers are older with only CD drives.  They do have one good laptop and I demonstrated the 8 GB flash drive that had a collation of Wikipedia articles for the UK syllabus (150,000 files), a medical encyclopedia, several digital science texts, and a collection of audio books including classic short stories, the entire new testament, and Hurlbut's bible stories.  I thought these could be used to practice listening to English as well as being interesting for the students.