Zoba Maekel, Eritrea – Completion of Borehole Repairs

After three months of enormous efforts our project partners Vita have successfully completed the repair and maintenance of 48 bore holes in the central region administration of Eritrea (or Zoba Maekel) This repair programme has received mass support and satisfaction from the beneficiaries that will now benefit from access to clean water across the entire district.

It is with enormous pleasure and pride on behalf of CO2balance that we have been able to be part of these projects which truly alter the lives of the most deserving people on the planet. I have seen first hand how illness from drinking dirty water and the time lost fetching it robs entire communities of their futures while cascading them onto a cycle of poverty which makes Eritrea one of the most under-developed countries in the world.

CO2balance and Vita are seeking to address extreme poverty in Eritrea going forward over the next number of years. Zoba Maekel is just one part of the programme being implemented which is seeking to break the cycle of poverty in Eritrea and long may it continue to thrive and develop going forward.  All our work is done in conjunction with the communities and people of Eritrea. Eritreans are proud of their country. Proud of what they have achieved in such a short time since becoming independent. In the villages and the towns where co2balance and Vita operate is to be found Eritrea’s greatest strength; the resilience of its people.

It was Robert Unger (philosopher and politician) who famously articulated that “At every level the greatest obstacle to transforming the world is that we lack the clarity and imagination to conceive that it could be different”. CO2balance together with Vita do not lack any clarity or imagination on a vision for Eritrea. Ultimately, their programme has the dream of repairing all the broken boreholes in the country and providing clean water for thousands of people. Watch the space for this dream becoming a reality.

See a montage of photos from the borehole repair programme in the beautiful country of Eritrea through 2016.

 

Dirty water sources in Eritrea

Borehole repair programme

Women very happy

Children also very happy if not a tad confused by the new found fame

Zoba Maekel : Natural Wonder

 

The taste of clean water

When developing a borehole project, one might think that the hardest part is the physical rehabilitation and the siting of the boreholes. However there are many challenges which appear only in the second phase of the project, once the boreholes are providing safe water. We have met one of these challenges when some locals reported that the water from our freshly rehabilitated boreholes is salty and not palatable for few users in our Rwandan project. These feedback were unexpected because the water quality tests carried out by a recognized laboratory showed that all tested parameters are well within the acceptable range. What could have been the problem then?

According to our field team, locals have been drinking warm and dirty water from lakes and pond which might have tasted sweeter than the fresh and clean water coming from the boreholes. Our NGO partner reported about similar experience in other clean water project.

The laboratory has also confirmed that the underlying reason is that groundwater often has higher levels of dissolved solids than surface water because of its contact with aquifer geologic material and more time to dissolve rock and mineral materials. To explore the issue more in-depth, conductivity of the borehole water was tested, which is an indicator of the amount of dissolved salts and used to estimate the amount of total dissolved solids (TDS) rather than measuring each dissolved constituent separately. This is an important parameter for drinking water because high TDS values may result in a ‘salty’ taste to the water.

All our TDS results for our rehabilitated boreholes have been well within the limit and range required in the “WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality, Fourth Edition” and we found it important to share it also with our local borehole users. The issue has been incorporated into the WASH education and community sensitization programme to make sure that people are aware why the borehole water may taste “salty” after years of drinking surface water. The success of the WASH programme is confirmed by the field team and in-country partners but also by the usage survey which now shows 100% usage of the rehabilitated boreholes.

The Big 5-0!

CO2balance are celebrating somewhat of a milestone this week as we submit our 50^th project under our global micro Programme of Activities (mPoA) GS1247! Together, our projects have had a huge impact, reducing global carbon emissions and improving livelihoods in some of the world’s poorest communities.

This is a significant flag in the ground and it coincides with the commitment from World Leaders to 17 Global Goals in the hope of achieving three extraordinary things; ending extreme poverty, fighting inequality and mitigating climate change. As we continue to develop projects across the globe we are proud to be able to see and measure the tangible benefits that our projects have and how they are contributing towards achieving these goals.

For updates on all our projects, sign up to email updates or follow us at @co2balance.

Find out more about the Global Goals here http://www.globalgoals.org/

Rwanda trip

I am very happy to write about the progress of our borehole project in Rwanda. During last week we visited the rehabilitated boreholes in Gatsibo district and met with the communities who have now access to clean water supply. We have discussed the achievements so far and the scope of further improvement with our local NGO partner, Rwandans4Water. We look forward to starting the new year with even more borehole rehabilitation, this way reaching out to more communities in the Eastern Province in Rwanda. Until then, please some some photos from the last trip below!

Progress in Malawi

Last week we received confirmation from the Gold Standard that our first 4 micro scale borehole projects in Malawi had been Listed. This is a land mark in what has been a slow moving project but one that carries an enormous amount of potential.

The project aims to improve access to clean water in one of the world’s poorest countries, ranked 160^th out of 182 in the Human Development Index. In fact according to the United Nations about 74% of the population still lives below the poverty line of $1.25 a day and an incredible 90% are below the $2 a day threshold.

On top of this Malawi is considered a water stressed country with less than 1,700m³ of fresh water per capita. This problem is amplified by remarkable population growth, especially in its urban areas. Future water demand projections predict that Malawi will fall to less than 1,000 m³ of fresh water per capita as early as 2015.

Against this back drop only 65% of Malawi’s population has access to improved water and sanitation. Therefore to achieve its 2015 MDG targets more than 6 million additional people will require access to clean water and sanitation facilities.

Our projects are playing a small but vital role in helping Malawi meet its MDG targets and we have now repaired more than 60 boreholes which are currently providing communities with clean and safe water, while also helping to avoid current and future GHG emissions.

Boreholes In Malawi

At the end of last week we received an update from our partners, Concern Universal, in Malawi that a total of 62 boreholes have been repaired and are now providing clean water for local communities. This marks a significant milestone in the project to date as it means we can soon submit to the Gold Standard for registration of our 4 VPAs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The approach we are taking in Malawi is centred firmly on the community; before making any repairs the community must have organised a committee to manage the borehole. This committee is responsible for ensuring that some basic materials and labour are provided by the community before work can begin. We see this as an important step in the process as it affirms the communities buy in and ownership of the boreholes. Without this, it is unlikely that they will effectively manage the resource and further borehole breakdowns are likely to occur.

An Exciting Few Weeks for the Team

The next couple of weeks promise to be action packed for the projects team. I am heading out to Malawi to meet with our partners Concern Universal to discuss ways we can work together to deliver even more great projects. While Richard is flying out to Kenya this weekend to prepare for and undertake the site visits for our two CDM cook-stove projects. He will be followed closely by Eszter who has a fantastic trip lined up to Uganda to check on our borehole projects, before heading off to Kenya for the Shimba Hills verification site visit.

While we all welcome the chance to get out of the office these trips are normally jam packed so that we can make the most of them and more often than not we return in need of a long holiday!

Stakeholder Meeting in Bangladesh

Concern Universal, our in-country partner for the borehole-rehabilitation project in Bangladesh has confirmed that the local stakeholder meeting held on the 11^th of May in the Rangamati was successful and highly appreciated by the local community. We thank Concern Universal Bangladesh for all their effort in organizing the meeting and we are looking forward to progressing with the project – taking into account now the suggestions we received from the stakeholders last Sunday. To hear about the latest development with our clean water project in the Chittagong Hills, please stay tuned to our blog.

ENVISIONING CLEAN WATER IN MACHAKOS COUNTY

Co2balance realizes the pain most communities undergo in Kenya in accessing clean and safe water especially in the dry areas. As a result last month Co2balance started discussions with the County government of Machakos to find ways how to work together and solve this menace.

Machakos County is one of the 47 counties in Kenya. Its capital is Machakos town. The local climate is semi arid with hilly terrain with an altitude of 1000 to 1600 meters above sea level. Tourist related activities such as Camping, hiking safaris, ecotourism and cultural tourism, dance and music festivals among many more are more excitingly done due to the hilly terrain. The County experiences erratic and unpredictable rains of less than 500mm annually, with short rains in October through to December and the long rains in late March to May.

Currently Machakos County is exploring carbon finance as a possible alternative revenue stream for funding its borehole community projects as well as sustaining the operation of these projects. Recently Co2balance led by the Kenya Country Director Paul Keir, travelled to the county to meet with the County Governor and other stakeholders. The goal was to gain an understanding of their current initiatives as well as identifying ways carbon finance could be generated.

At this stage its worth mentioning that water projects reduce carbon emissions by introducing a new ‘zero emissions technology’ that provides safe water in the project scenario; examples include a hand pumped borehole (as opposed to powered by a diesel generator) or a household water filter. As people don’t already have access to a supply of safe water in the county many have to boil unsafe water on traditional stoves to purify it. By providing this zero emissions technology to people who do not have access to a supply of safe drinking water the project will reduce the emissions created from boiling water for drinking thus safeguard the environment and curb climate change.

Many existing boreholes in the county owned by community groups have fallen into disrepair because maintenance programmes have been poorly managed and or prove too expensive. In this instance Co2balance will work with Machakos County to identify broken down boreholes and rehabilitate them so that they deliver clean and safe water. The main goal for the collaboration will be to ensure that the quality of the water delivered by the boreholes is fit for human consumption.