Since opening day at Jarigu on October 17th, 98% of the households in the village have visited the water treatment center at least once, while 74% have come a second time and almost 50% have come three times. These are some of the best uptake and sustained use results that we have seen in any CWS village!
Alhassan selling water at the Jarigu Water Treatment Center
Nyamaliga
The rain has finally stopped in Northern Region Ghana and the path to the water treatment center at Nyamaliga is FINALLY dry enough to open the center. Sanatu (the woman who runs the center in Nyamaliga) officially re-opened for business last week and has been very busy. Right now she is opening the center about 5 times a week and plans to be open everyday once the dry season officially gets underway. Currently,about 5 to 20 people are buying water each day and we expect this to increase as we move into the dry season. Here are some pictures from the re-opening at Nyamaliga:
Sanatu treating dugout water with alumGetting some clean, healthy water at the Nyamaliga water treatment center!The new sign at NyamaligaHappy customers on their way home with healthy drinking water
Peter and I have been very busy getting things set up in Jarigu this week. Here are some pictures from the past 7 days!
Monday and Tuesday: Building the polytank stand
One of the first steps in setting up a CWS water treatment center is building the polytank stand. We try to work with a local mason to build the stand, but since none of the men in Jarigu were experienced masons, Soufoo, our good friend from Nyamaliga, came to help!
Loading up the taxi with bricks, cement, and sand to bring to Jarigu
Soufoo working awayAlmost done with the first rowHalfway done and finished for the day. It may not look like much, but it took a lot of work! Thank you Soufoo!Filling the middle of the stand with gravelLast step! Covering the outside of the stand and building the stairsAll finished!
Wednesday: Delivering the polytank and the blue tubs
Since Kasaligu now has access to municipal water, we decided to move their water treatment center to Jarigu. This is something that we discussed in detail with the Kasaligu chairman and with Fati, the woman who works at the center. They were both happy to move their polytank to a new village that needed the treatment center (we will still be working with Kasaligu on safe water storage to prevent the re-contamination of the piped water in their homes, and Fati will be selling small Aquatabs that people can use to chlorinate their own water). Originally, Peter and I planned to either rent a truck or find one of the cheap peterbilt used trucks for sale to move the polytank, but we decided at the last minute to use a taxi instead. A few hours and two runs-in with the police later, the polytank and the three blue tubs that make up the water treatment center arrived safely in Jarigu.
Loading a blue tub into the trunk outside of Fati's houseHaving a little trouble fitting the polytank through the door at Fati's house...Loading the polytank onto the roof of the taxi - apparently the Tamale police didn't think that this was a funny as I did!Ready to go!Some of the men from Jarigu who helped set up the water treatment centerFilling the blue tubs with dugout water
Thursday: Distributing Safe Storage Containers and Water Treatment Training
On Wednesday, Peter and I visited each household in Jarigu to distribute the CWS safe storage containers. Although it takes a long time to pass out the containers to each family individually, its a great way to make sure everyone in the village understands the project and the connection between water and health, and learns the importance of safe water storage through the use of water storage containers. Water can be kept safe and clean when stored in one of these. There are various sized containers available, depending on the need and quantity of people. As there is not always running water, it is only best for numerous amounts of villages to have access to these containers. It makes life just a little bit easier for the residents. Just like with any job, it was a LONG but fun and rewarding day!
Peter explaining the different components of the CWS safe storage containerAttaching the tap to the safe storage container. Checking out the safe storage container
On Thursday we also started water treatment training. Usually, we will work with members of the community to select two women to be in charge of the water treatment center, who we then train to treat the dugout water. The village then decides what time of the day and how often they would like the center to be open. We like working with women because they are usually the ones in charge of all water-related household activities (collecting water, cooking, washing, etc) In Jarigu, however, we are doing things differently. This village already had a local man, Alhassan, “guarding” the dugout. He sits by the dugout all day long to make sure that no one walks too far into the water (this helps to prevent Guinea Worm contamination). Since Alhassan was already sitting right next to the water treatment center, the village thought that he should be the one in charge of it and we agreed. Since Alhassan will be at the dugout all day, everyday, the water treatment center can be open all of the time. While this makes it a little bit harder for us to monitor (instead of coming to the village for a few hours on the days the center is open, we will have to be there all day if we want to observe the center’s sales), it is much more convenient for our customers in Jarigu! Here are some pictures from our first night of water treatment training with Alhassan – he is a quick learner and very fun to work with!
Step 1: Particle removal. We use alum- a locally available coagulant/flocculant for this step of the water treatment process.We usually add alum to the water in the evening, and by the next morning, the particles in the water have settled to the bottom and the water is clear.
Friday: Water treatment training day 2
On Friday morning we returned to Jarigu for the second day of water treatment training with Alhassan. We transferred the water from the blue tubs (now “clear”) into the polytank and treated it with Aquatabs, a chlorine product that disinfects the water. Its now ready for opening day!
Step 2: transferring the water to the polytankOnce the polytank is full, we disinfect the water using chlorine.
Saturday: Opening Day!
Opening day in Jarigu was a big success! 34 families came to buy water from Alhassan and a good time was had by all! Thank you again to Susan and Greg Gintoff at Volunteer Shredding, LLC for sponsoring this water treatment center!
Alhassan selling water on opening day at JariguMe with a happy customer is JariguOpening day at JariguMe, Alhassan and Peter at the water treatment center in Jarigu. Thank you Volunteer Shredding, LLC!The CWS water treatment center at Jarigu. Sponsored by Greg and Susan Gintoff at Volunteer Shredding, LLCChildren hanging out at the CWS water treatment center on opening day.
After two weeks of visiting many rural villages in Northern Region Ghana, we have selected Jarigu to be the next site for a CWS water treatment business. Not only does Jarigu meet all of the CWS village criteria (the only source of water is a dugout, the dugout does not dry-out in the dry season, the village is the right size, and there are no current water treatment projects), but it is also about 10 minutes away from Nyamaliga, which will make monitoring the two villages much easier Peter (our project manager). I met with the village elders today to explain the project and they were very eager to work with us and seemed to really understand the idea of a water treatment business. Over the next two weeks Peter and I will be working with members of Jarigu to build the water treatment center, distribute safe storage containers to every family, and select and train two women to work at the center. We are really excited to start implementing in this village and look forward to updating everyone on our progress. Thank you to Volunteer Shredding, LLC, Greg and Susan Gintoff for sponsoring this CWS water treatment business! Your donation is providing a permanent source of clean water for ~750 people!
JariguThe Jarigu Dugout- a shallow, stagnant, mad-made pond. This is their only source of water.Close up of the Jarigu dugout. People frequently ask us what water the people villages were drinking before we got there, well, this is it. Getting a water sample from the dugout- the water tested positive for E.coli. which indicates fecal contamination.Children in Jarigu
I spent the beginning of this week in Accra, the capital of Ghana, meeting with The Melcom Group, the company that manufactures the buckets that CWS has been using for our safe storage containers. Safe storage is a key component of the CWS water treatment model because it helps to prevent re-contamination of the water in the home. In the past, we have purchased these buckets from a retailer in Tamale, and installed taps in them ourselves. This was a very long, arduous task that involved heating a metal pipe on a gas stove and punching holes in hundreds of plastic buckets.
Were we based elsewhere, like in Australia for instance, we could speak to other experts (like those from https://shop.storemasta.com.au/collections/bunded-storage) to help us out with these options. Safe storage of chemicals for water treatment is important, after all. Still, we made do with what was available to us in this circumstance, and all in all we were hopeful for a good outcome.
Well, the meetings in Accra were a huge success! Not only did Melcom sell us the buckets and taps at the wholesale price, but they also punched holes in the buckets for us and shipped them to Tamale for free. The buckets arrived in Tamale today, only two days after I ordered them!
Excited and still a little surprised that the buckets arrived on time
Trying to fit all of the safe storage containers in one taxi...we almost did it!
