This project has been completed under the direction of Peace Corps Volunteer Stephen Cormier.
To read about the beginning of the project, CLICK HERE.
The project was to build a 40-cubic-meter water storage tank.
Stephen reports:
The project was a great success. We (the WMC, community and local NGO) set out to use the funding provided by Water Charity to begin building a water storage tank of 40 cubic meters, which will eventually store water to reinforce the village’s existing water system. We accomplished everything we set out to do. We were able to build up this tank to 2.3 meters tall, cover it and seal it.
After contacting the community to notify them that Water Charity has continued sponsoring our overall program, they immediately began mobilizing the community and arranged for more sand and cement to be ready for purchase in the neighboring market town of Santa. Like last time this helped expedited the project.
The tank itself is incredibly large, so the actual building slowed down this project considerably, because we were forced to wait for each few layers of the tank to ‘settle’ before continuing.
Initially the Appropriate Projects funds were not able to fully complete building this massive storage tank. After discussing other options with Water Charity, we decided to turn back to the community in order to rally support to finish the much-needed water tank.
After sensitizing the village we were able to have both in-kind and cash donations for the completion of this project. Some community members donated sand and cement while others were able to provide cash in order to finish.
The next project for this community will include purchasing the pipes to connect the new spring to the tank and ultimately to the existing line. We have learned from mistakes on this project, and will first be sure to have a larger community contribution in order to be able to complete the full pipeline in the next project.
The community continues to tell me that digging and laying the pipes (600+ meters) will take this village merely one single day of labor. It is amazing to see this community at work!
We are grateful to Stephen for completing this ambitious and important segment of the overall program and look forward to assisting with the future work to develop a comprehensive water system for the community. We again wish to thank the Paul Bechtner Foundation for providing the funding.
