Clean Water Not Taken For Granted in Zambia

I remember when I lived in America, it seems long ago now, that I would always start my morning with a nice hot shower and a good brushing of my teeth. As my day progressed, I drank a lot of water — from the tap, public fountains, water coolers. All around me was good, clean, safe water.

Did I ever stop to think for a second if that water may make me sick, or where that water was coming from? Nope.

But now that I live in a rural African community, I have to, otherwise I may get a less than friendly visit from Mr. D (a name commonly given to diarrhea in Zambia), or something much worse — like dysentery or cholera.

Clean water is often taken for granted when it’s available and sorely missed when it isn’t. I know I took it for granted when I had it and now I miss it immensely.

Bore holes with a pump, like this, offer the most reliably clean water available to someone in rural Zambia, but they're pricey and cost about $6,000.

It is incredibly disconcerting when you’re able to see things in your water source — things like buckets, clothes, animal excrement or simple debris like logs and leaves.

Most water sources here start out clean and through a combination of disrepair, apathy and ignorance, they can become — well, just gross — and even harmful.

There are three main sources for safe drinking water here (safe is a sometimes relative term). There’s a natural spring, a well and a bore hole. Each has pros and cons, as well as different price tags for building and protecting.

A natural spring isn’t built — it’s just there as a pre-existing natural feature. For only $20 it can be protected with a barrier to keep animals out.

Then there’s a well. This is what my village has. Typically, these are hand dug with a cement apron and cement lid covering the opening to keep out animals, kids and other unwanted things. Price tag: about $800.

Some locals from my friend Caleb's village are gathered around the village to see what is in the bottom.

Finally, there’s the bore hole. This is usually deeper than a well and taps into a deeper aquifer. To get the water out, a hand pump is built and the user pumps a crank, then out comes the good stuff.

The design is similar to what you may see in a state park in Michigan. The downside is that these pumps sometimes break and, for whatever reason, aren’t quickly repaired. They still remain the best bet for clean water and they had better be for a price tag of around $6,000.

What about rivers and streams some may ask? They may be OK, but without being certain of what’s upstream and possibly flowing in the current, that’s a risky option.

A river like this, the Kabompo River, may seem a great source for water, but there is no telling what is upstream, flowing to the user.

Some volunteers actually make clean water one of their focus projects during their service. My good friend Caleb Rudow is one of them.

As soon as he got to his village, he found the local well in need of attention. The village hadn’t put much effort into maintaining or improving their drinking water source so Caleb went for it. After holding numerous meetings and organizing everyone, they got to work.

One day they built a fence to keep the local cattle away from the community’s water source. Then three days were spent clearing logs and other material from the bottom of the well (a man was lowered in every day to do this). Another day was spent building a cement apron to improve sanitation, and finally another to build the cover and lid.

This man was lowered 40 feet in this well, three days straight, to clean out the debris that was polluting the village's water source.

Now there’s a beautiful, clean well for the villagers to draw water from.

The whole project from start to finish took six months. Things move slowly here, but it’s worth it and Caleb thinks that it will be one of his best projects because clean water leads to improved health and a better standard of living.

Note: This was originally printed in the BC Enquirer on May 27, 2013.