Failing wells leave villagers desperate for water

 

There is a village called Angwa Bassa in rural Nigeria where people can become so desperate for water that they gather it from the same streams where their livestock drink and sometimes defecate.

Angwa Bassa had two functioning wells, but both have been failing. One of them, dug by hand more than a decade ago, has been repaired so often that villagers finally stopped trying to fix it.

 

Since then, about 1,000 people have been reliant on the other well. But that one, built to serve about 500 people, is also failing – and forcing some people to gather water from contaminated sources.

 

Lifewater learned of the villagers’ plight and, with funding from donors like you, sent its drilling team to thoroughly repair the broken-down well and get safe water flowing again from 45 metres underground.

 

However, Angwa Bassa needs two fully functioning wells to meet the village’s relatively small daily water needs – and to avoid the risk of the newly repaired well becoming so over-used that it quickly fails.

 

Many other villages in Africa and Haiti are also waiting for wells and pumps to be repaired, or new wells to be drilled. Will you donate today to provide live-saving water to people who desperately need it?