WELL, WELL, WELL for NOTDEC's Tots!

WELL NEEDED!     ***APPEAL NOW CLOSED    THANK YOU!***

NOTDEC saves the lives of tiny babies in Western Uganda – many, new-borns whose mums die in childbirth.

Tots too young to live with relatives are cared for at our Kabirizi Children ’s Centre. 

Kabirizi is dry - and thirsty!  It uses 10,000 litres of water/day – for drinking, cooking, bathing, laundry and everything needed by 60+ toddlers and their carers PLUS the office/support staff who oversee older kids now living with family. A little is also used on the farm (+ recycled water) to water young plants.

Right now, water has to be hauled by tractor from the river - a round trip of 8 km every day. Last year that cost £5,000 in fuel, servicing and tyres. When full, the bowser weighs 12 tons, so tyres don’t last long. Add on staff time (4 man-hours/day), depreciation of the tractor and bowser and you'll see that hauling water is costing a small fortune. 

And in the rainy season,  with the river in spate, the water is full of muck – wholly unsutable for bathing babies let alone drinking!  So hauling in water is not a cheap, clean, “green” or robust solution.

WELL PLANNED!

With God’s help & your support, we ’d like to give NOTDEC a better water supply.

Our solution – all on NOTDEC land – is boring!   We want to bore a well.

For this, we will need:

• the borehole, a pump and a solar panel to power it
• a brick compound  to protect the Installation (deterring elephants and making it much harder for anyone to steal the solar panel)
• a 1.5 metre deep trench taking the pipe from the borehole to our water tanks 

Cost Breakdown:

• Drilling borehole                  £7,000
• Pump & solar panels           £5,000
• Site work                                £3,000

TOTAL                                            £15,000

WELL BETTER?

After drilling in 2010 we were told there was no water under NOTDEC land.  So what has changed?

In 2010, hydro-geological surveying was not available in Uganda. Drilling was guesswork:  our advisors tried in 3 places and found only granite.  Now, hydro-geological surveys have reached Uganda.

In May 2023 we commissioned a hydro-geological survey – sounding every 11 metres, and covering all NOTDEC’s 30 acres down to a depth of 200 metres.

Almost all our charts were red/orange/yellow, indicating granite and other impervious rock. 

However, in one small area of 5 metres diameter the chart (left) showed a fault-line in the rock and a sweet spot with water.  There, 3 flows meet, making water highly likely. Water was detected at 30 metres and below (blue & green in the chart). 

For NOTDEC, this is a breakthrough.

We’ve been advised to drill to 120 metres, where there should be water even in the dry season. Yields might be 1,500 - 5,000 litres/hour (meaning pumping 2-6 hours/day.)

How Do We Know it Will Work?

A neighbour 2 km away recently had a hydro-geological survey and then drilled a 100 metre borehole based on its findings. 

He can get 2-3,000 litres/hour – though when we met him he still had no tank to put it in!

Coupled with our own exciting site survey findings, this is as close to a guarantee as we are ever likely to get.  But until we actually drill, an element of risk will always remain.

WELL ... GO ON THEN!

If you would like to help us give NOTDEC's kids (and the support staff!) a water supply that is

• cheaper,
• cleaner,
• greener,
• and more reliable

 please "tap" here!   

And, if you can, please Gift Aid your donation.

ALL REQUIRED FUNDS WERE RAISED VIA ST PAUL'S GIFT DAY

Many thanks for your support. 

Janet Johnston