Background

Nankumba is a small community of roughly 600 people in the southern region of Malawi. Community members walk miles to collect water from shallow wells and contaminated surface water sources. The readily available water is dirty with algae, causing widespread sickness, and travel is often adversarial, especially in the rainy season when monsoons occur. The Sacramento Professional chapter was selected in October 2021 to design and construct 4 new borehole groundwater wells to provide clean drinking water. Successful completion of the project will not only affect the Nankumba community, but approximately 7,000 people who rely on this drinking water source from other villages.

Ongoing Effort

Our team is partnering with Freshwater International Inc, a local non-governmental organization (NGO) in the area, to collect data and and construct the borehole well. Working on one borehole at a time, Freshwater International provides a hydrogeological survey to identify a suitable place for borehole drilling. With the collected assessment data, borehole well sites and target aquifers are selected to provide maximum water yield to the community. Then, Freshwater International drills the borehole, performs a water quality test, and installs the well pump.

A mechanical hand pump called an afridev, was selected due to its easy maintenance, commonality in Malawi, long service life, and cost effectiveness. The afridev pump is situated on top of a concrete apron with grout seal to protect the underlying well from surface contamination. The afridev is limited to a borehole well depth of 45 meters (~147 feet) due to the mechanical strain.

As of April 2024, the first borehole well was successfully drilled and installed! This borehole well serves over 700 people in the Njowe and Kapuchi villages. The water quality meets recommended borehole water drinking standards, but the local government will monitor the microbiological concentrations with a possible future need for chlorination.

The project team is currently working on raising funds to support the assessment and construction of the second borehole well.

Support Our Project!

If you are interested in making a positive difference to people in the Nankumba community, please consider making a donation to this project through the Donate Page. If you are interested in a front-row seat on how this project develops, join the project team by messaging us through our Contact Page or emailing us at sacpropresident@gmail.com.

Opportunities exist for anyone who’s interested in EWB Sacramento Valley Professional Chapter to make contributions. To continue our success as an organization, we need a wide range of engineering and non-engineering skill-sets. All are welcome!