Chikemma Nwana and Hyeladzirra Banu
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Water is Life: Bore-Hole Drilling in Nigeria
Wartburg College
The Purpose of Proposal- To Create a Sustainable Supply of Water and To Increase Availability,
Accessibility, and Hygiene in Umuenechi Village, Awka-South Local Government Area of
Anambra State, Nigeria.
Purpose of the Project
“The demand for water is increasing at an exponential rate relative to the world’s
population growth rate and poverty is the most significant factor that interferes with meeting that
demand,” as relayed by officials at the 3rd World Water Forum. Clean water has become
increasingly inaccessible to a vast majority of people in our world. According to the World
Health Organization, there are 2.2 million diarrhoeal deaths related to unsafe water, sanitation,
and hygiene every year. The great majority of deaths are children in developing countries. The
Environment News Service also affirms that approximately one half of indigenes in developing
countries are suffering from diseases caused directly by infection through the consumption of
contaminated water or food, or indirectly by pathogens such as mosquitoes that breed in water.
Nigeria is no exception to this predicament. For this reason, our proposal will take an exclusive
focus towards increasing water supply, availability, accessibility, sanitation and hygiene in
Umuenechi Village, Nigeria.
Objectives
o To create a sustainable supply of clean water in Umuenechi Village, Nigeria.
o To enlighten the indigenes of Umuenechi Village on the importance of clean water.
o To educate the indigenes on how to carry out healthy house-hold treatment and storage
procedures relating to clean water sustainability.
o To increase the overall availability, accessibility, sanitation, and hygiene of water in
Umuenechi Village, Anambra State, Nigeria.
Course of Action
In order to increase water supply, our initial intervention strategy will be to construct a
bore-hole. Pipe-borne water is an important tool for increasing water supply as it helps transport
water from water sources to communities in need. This measure will increase water access
through drilling boreholes at proper geophysical survey areas with a considerable distance from
septic tanks, unlined pit latrines and waste dump sites.
All across Nigeria there is sickening prevalence of bad quality water in the country.
People have thus resigned to fetching water from questionable sources such as polluted rivers,
lakes, unsafe wells and pipes. These dirty water sources are a source of water-related diseases
such as diarrhea, cholera, dysentery and their likes. As an intervention strategy towards
increasing availability of clean water for households, we will teach the indigenes of Umuenechi
Village to adopt a culture of household water treatment and safe storage practices.
Water treatment is direly needed to improve the quality of water. Most of the water
bodies existent in my country have been polluted by the deposition of toxic wastes and oil spills.
Consequently, this water has been deemed unsafe for consumption. In order to redeem the
quality of water, physical or chemical methods for water treatment need to be adopted. It is very
clear that most residents of Umuenechi Village, Anambra State, Nigeria are poverty-stricken,
and so will need to be informed about water purification practices that are sustainable, but yet
Chikemma Nwana and Hyeladzirra Banu
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affordable. In our world today, there is a broad range of water purification methodologies;
however, for economic limitation of the recipients of this project, we will focus on affordable
measures. One household treatment method that will be taught to the indigenes of Umuenechi
Village is the value of boiling drinking water. This method has a high microbial efficacy.
Prior to writing this project proposal, we visited St. Joseph Catholic Parish, Nibo in
Nigeria, where we intend to execute the project. We have established a cordial relationship with
the community representatives and parish priest, Rev. Fr. Hilary Okpalaji. We are confident that
a professional collaboration with St. Joseph Catholic Parish, Nibo will attract families, farmers,
and students to the site where community services are provided.
In addition to this, we have merged efforts with Marycare Organization, a non-profit
organization based in Connecticut. Marycare is committed to promoting sustainable growth
initiatives in Africa and has launched successful water projects in Nigeria. For this reason, we
intend to collaborate with them. They will provide insight and expertise as we execute our
project.
Sustainability
We intend for this project to be highly sustainable. As a result of this, we plan to establish
a commission in Anambra state through which the leaders of the village as well as the members
of the church site where the bore-hole is intended to be drilled will take active part in the
planning, execution and implementation of the bore-hole. We intend for this project to be highly
community-based as this will help establish cohesion in the establishment of the project and
promote positive peace.
The commission will consist of representatives from Marycare, who have done similar
water projects in a neighboring state, Imo State, Nigeria. We trust that the Catholic Church on its
own serves as an agent of sustenance of this project.
Regulation and Monitoring of Project after Execution
At the end of our 8 weeks of embarking on this project, we would have taught the people
on how to make water clean and healthy for consumption by teaching them through practical
hands-on training on the importance of boiling water. We will appoint an overseer from the
Marycare organization who is competent and literate to report on a monthly basis to us on the
project progress and sustainability.
Significance of Project
Water is life. Water serves as a basic human resource for drinking, farming, cooking and
various sanitary activities. This project will change the lives of the people who live, work, go to
school, and worship in Umuenechi village.
The lifestyle of these Nigerians exposes the people of Umuenechi Village to an appalling
way of life. These villagers drink from the same river water that contains toxic waste. We
consider this an outrage to humanity. Since we have been in the same condition prior to our
study at Wartburg College, we understand what it means to get ill from drinking unsafe water.
These people have been exposed to such conditions due to the lack of access to clean and
affordable rinking water. With the help of the Davis Projects for Peace, we intend to help
improve the health and sanitary lifestyle of the people in Umuenechi Village. We trust that the
proposed Davis Projects for Peace grant will allow the citizens of Umuenechi village this basic
human need.
