Project Overview
The project areas stretches across various regions in southern Togo and the length of the project will be a minimum of five years.
In Togo, only 6.8% of the land area is forest area and between 2000-2020, the country lost around 61,399 ha of tree cover. Despite having a low forest cover, the annual rate of deforestation in Togo is 4.5%: it is one of the highest in the world. One of the drivers of the high rate of deforestation is the high household demand for wood and charcoal energy. Togo continues to be susceptible to risks associated with climate change and coupled with the high threat of water scarcity due to the country’s political climate, there is an increased risk of water borne diseases and poor sanitation.
Some organizations and the Togolese government have implemented various borehole or water projects to target the issue of water scarcity and insecurity, however, there is a huge gap between reported figures of improved water supply and reality. The current situation in Togo is still very dire and there is a high demand for clean water supply across various regions.
Project Impacts
In cooperation with a Togolese charity, IADES, and a U.K charity, DEKI, CO2balance hopes to rehabilitate 500 boreholes across Togo. The aim is to vastly improve the quality of life of thousands of families, reduce the risk of water-borne diseases and ensure households consume less firewood during the process of water purification. CO2balance will be working with the two charities to rehabilitate and deliver the maintenance programme for all the water points included in the project activity to ensure that the quality of the water is fit for human consumption for the entire length of the project. To encourage improved hygiene and sanitation practices, community-led trainings focused on behavior change and keeping the water points area clean, will be conducted within communities. This will be done to ensure sustainable improvements and reduce the incidence of water-borne diseases.
Prior to the project, local people typically use wood fuel on inefficient three stone fires to purify their drinking, cleaning and washing water. This process results in the release of greenhouse gas emissions from the combustion of wood. This can be avoided if a technology that does not require fuel (wood or fossil) supplies clean water desired by households.
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