Our Togo Safe Water Project is now well underway, with 82 borehole rehabilitations having been completed to date!
Along with each rehabilitation, communities are trained in WASH and borehole maintenance. Our WASH programme in Togo was developed by our in-country partner IADES in collaboration with USAID, MUSA and the Red Cross. This programme is planned to be conducted over around 8 sessions with each community during the first year of their involvement, and ongoing refresher meetings held during the following years.
Once each borehole has been rehabilitated it is then flushed which involves compressed air being forced into the borehole, pushing sediment and debris back out. Boreholes are then each treated with chlorine to remove any harmful bacteria and viruses which may have accumulated in the aquifer since the borehole was last functional.
Once this is complete, the water quality is tested by an accredited third party to ensure the water is completely safe for the communities to drink, meaning they are no longer required to boil the water they use.
For those boreholes which do not have a surrounding wall, these are built, helping to keep the area clean and keeping animals out, which protects the system from disease.
Each borehole is then branded with a unique ID and the exact GPS coordinates are recorded allowing them to be fully recognisable and distinguishable as part of the project.
Rehabilitations are planned to continue until the end of 2023 when we will have completed around 520 in total across rural communities in Togo.