Clean Water & Sanitation

Water is life

Soon after introducing the primary school, HEED began working on crippling water issues.

Open, contaminated ponds is all they had ever known in Kyakitanga.

Our first water initiative was to drill a well in 2011. Due to the heavy clay soils and little subsurface water, it has a low output so building capacity to collect rain water became the focus.

A pumping system was installed in 2015 to pump water from the well about ½ mile up to the primary school.

Like many poor areas in Uganda, scarce and contaminated water was all they had in this community. The area has no rivers or springs, little subsurface water for wells, and endures long seasons without rain. The lack of water is often an insurmountable obstacle that traps communities in poverty.

Carrying 5-gallon, 40-pound containers of water, was a daily chore until a pumping and tap system was installed at the school.

Thanks to a grant from Rotary International, in 2013, a water harvesting system was installed on our two largest buildings.

Water is pumped to the water tanks from the well and the harvesting tanks.

So far, HEED has drilled a deep water well and created rainwater catchment systems that supply the primary school’s needs. A small catchment system at the high school has been started and will be expanded as more buildings are constructed.

The next step is to construct an elevated water tank with a pump so that water can be distributed throughout the primary campus and provide water to the clinic and teacher’s quarters. We have made enormous progress, but more water systems are needed to have water security for the schools and the community.

Clean water and sanitation is bringing the blessing of better health!

A gravity-fed tap system supplies water to several sites throughout the campus

In the future, we hope to partner with villagers to create water harvesting systems for their individual homes and get government approval to introduce a more advanced water search technique for a potential community well. Creating water security for the area is a challenging, long-term project for HEED.

Rejoicing at RUNNING WATER from taps!

We have focused on improving sanitation in the community by teaching and modeling it at school. This has involved building proper latrines, installing handwashing stations, and ongoing teaching about health & hygiene.

Click Give below if you would like to partner with HEED in providing life-changing water and sanitation.