Project partners Cosmos HealthCare and Sizolwethu had visited this community several times over the years to provide health education and clinical care. During these visits the community members have often shared how access to clean water was a huge issue in their lives.

This water supply project is designed to reduce the risk of water-borne diseases arising from the use of unprotected surface and shallow water sources by the rural community of Phakamani through the implementation of a multi- faceted strategy. This strategy links WASH principles to three new water point installations in the community.

A baseline survey using structured questionnaires, focus group discussions and SPSS analysis was conducted by Sizolwethu in Feb 2015. This survey showed that 97% of respondents fetch water from unprotected sources, 61% had a family member suffer with a water-borne disease in the past year and that on average people walk between 5.6km to 18km (round trip) to fetch water from their main water source – digging in the nearest river bed.

Activities Conducted

1. Sand Abstraction Rower Pumps

• Installation of 1-2 sand abstraction “rower pumps” on the banks of the local river
• These are low technology, easy to maintain and suited to the environment. Hundreds of these pumps have been successfully used across Zimbabwe since 1991.
• These pumps will remove the need to dig in the river for water.

2. Rainwater Harvesting

• Installation of a large galvanized steel roof structure (approx.180sqm) connected to several PVC tanks to provide up to 50,000lt storage at any one time
• This roof collects an estimated 103,000litres per year based on average rainfall figures of 580mm per year (Zimbabwe Meteorological figures)
• This roof is positioned in the middle of the community for ALL to access;
• The roof has been specifically designed to enable the community members to convert it into a school building in the future

3. Concrete Ring Hand Dug Well

• Approx 50 interlocking concrete rings were manufactured onsite by the community using steel formwork, cement, steel reinforcing and readily available river sand.
• The hand dug well were placed in a low-lying area of the community where the water table is highest (approx. 20-25 meters in the dry season).