A letter from Larry and Inge Sthreshley in Congo
November 2, 2009
Dear Friends,
This water comes from a capped spring, a method for protecting groundwater from contamination that involves digging into the hillside, laying down gravel and pipe and putting in retaining walls.
One of my favorite photos from Congo is that of a young girl collecting clear, clean drinking water from a capped spring in a plastic basin. The image takes me back to my childhood when I would get a drink of water from the spigot under the towering windmill on my grandparents’ farm in Nebraska on a hot summer day. The water was icy cold and crystal clear. Filling a bucket with water, I would be mesmerized by the water as it reflected the sun and “sparkled like diamonds.’ This water was delightful, and as far as I was concerned, it was the best tasting water in the world!
As a missionary kid coming from Congo where the Lula River ran a muddy brown and our swimming pool was the “barrage,” the clarity of this well water fascinated me. In Congo, tap water might have the color of weak tea from dirt, rust or tannins, and you learned from an early age never to drink water directly from the faucet. It had to be boiled or filtered or you would surely get sick! There was good reason not to drink untreated water. In Congo, approximately 30 percent of disease incidence is related to contaminated water.
In spring of 2009, Larry was part of an assessment team, with fellow PC(USA) mission co-worker Jim McGill, that looked at the water needs in the Kasai regions of D.R. Congo. They found that much of the population still does not have access to clean water. An adequate supply of water for household use and the quality of water continue to be major problems in Congo.
As a result of this assessment, Larry has worked with Medi Kanda, Jim and others to develop a water program that will address the water needs of the area through spring capping, ferrocement cisterns and well drilling. It will also involve developing and supporting a local technical team and organizing and training water committees to establish maintenance programs for their water sources. The goal is to assure that clean water is available to at least 80 percent of the population in health zones run by the Presbyterian Church.
Spring capping
In most areas where the Presbyterian Church works, there are natural springs within walking distance of much of the population. If you look at a hydrological map of Congo, it is a land of a “million rivers and springs.” Capping springs so that they are protected from contamination is one of the lowest cost ways of providing clean water. Capping a spring costs between 500 and 700 dollars. It involves digging into the hillside where there is a spring and laying down gravel and pipe and putting in retaining walls. Clean, uncontaminated water flows out of the pipe at a rate of 5-20 liters per minute, and the flow never stops.
If the work is done well, a capped spring can go for 10-20 years with little maintenance and covers the needs of approximately 250-300 people per spring. The problem with spring capping is that often the springs are 30 minutes to an hour’s walk from the village, and the walk can be very steep. Women and children may spend two to four hours a day getting water for the family, and due to the time and effort required, the amount of water available is often insufficient for proper hygiene and sanitation.
Ferrocement cisterns
Another low cost solution is ferrocement cisterns. As more homes and buildings in villages get tin roofs, this option becomes more viable. A 12,000-liter cistern can be built for about 500-600 dollars and can last even longer than a capped spring when it is built well. Even though there is a long dry season in Congo, there is enough rain for eight months of the year that cisterns could be the major source of water for most of the population. One of the goals of this program is to construct cisterns, where feasible, at all schools and clinics with tin roofs.
Well drilling
Even though well drilling is an expensive option, in some circumstances — for example, where there is a high population density and a shortage of springs close by — it is an appropriate solution. But for well drilling to be a viable solution for providing water in the long term, the well needs to be well managed and maintained.
Having lived in Congo for a number of years, I’ve discovered I can manage (to an extent) without electricity, but I can’t deal with not having sufficient clean water. So, I’m excited about this program and the relief it will bring to many families. Thank you for your support, which enables us to be here in Congo and the many opportunities it gives us, like this one, to serve and work alongside our Congolese church partners to find solutions to health concerns.
If you or your church would like to be a part of this program, you can give to “Water for All” ECO account E862703 at the PC(USA) Web site. Whether you can contribute or not, please pray for those involved in carrying out this program. What an opportunity for evangelism they have, for sharing the good news of the One who gives us life-giving water.
…but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring which will provide him with life-giving water and give him eternal life” (John 4: 14)
Inge and Larry Sthreshley
The 2009 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 39
