Want to Build a Well With Me?

So, I’m finally doing a project!! Look at me doing work!



OK, that’s just me learning to make latrine slabs. My work is going to be a well project. I’ve included basically my entire project request here (which hasn’t yet been approved). When it is approved, it will be available to find on the Peace Corps Partnership Program website. If you’re looking for a way to help my village, this is your chance.




The project is to line, cover, and reinforce five wells in my rural village. In addition to preventing further erosion and cave-ins at the mouth of the well, this will prevent contaminated surface water (and chickens!) from falling in the well. The project also includes a pulley system to make drawing water easier. This level of infrastructure will be a new step for the poor farmers who live in the village.

The community will provide all of the labor for the project and a percentage of the materials. I have requested money from the Partnership Program to go toward purchasing cement and tools to complete the work. Once the project is complete, the standing Water and Sanitation Committee will continue to utilize the skills and knowledge of sanitary water supply gained during the project to improve other wells in the village.

The five wells selected for this initial project belong to respected community leaders. Improving the wells of prestigious people converts a household utility item into a status symbol and increases general interest in sanitation. Four of the wells are topped by a slab of timbers and packed earth, with an old donkey cart tire forming the mouth. Only two are lidded even occasionally. The fifth well has suffered extensive erosion at the mouth, and gapes to 3 meters (nearly 10 feet) in diameter at the surface. Large puddles of churned muck are a feature of several of the wells, because clothes washing and dishwashing take place next to the wells so that women don’t need to carry water a long distance before doing their work. Animals are watered at the well for the same reason. The addtion of a concrete wash-area with associated infiltration pit will greatly ameliorate this problem.

My village, the village of Zamblala, has a population of roughly 1000 people. It is located in rural Mali, in the cercle of Koutiala. Most of the villagers are subsistence farmers. During much of the year (November through June), precipitation is negligible. There is little or no infrastructure in the village, including a complete lack of water delivery infrastructure or sanitation infrastructure. Most wells have neither reinforcement nor lining, causing erosion at the mouth, and allowing surface water to contaminate the well.

The village chief and 15 villagers have formed a Water and Sanitation Committee, with the goal of improving access to clean water for the entire village. The Committee is headed by the Peace Corps Volunteer’s homologue, and several of the members are prominient community members. There are 6 women on the Committee, and the members range in age from early twenties to a grey-haired member in her mid sixties.

The vast majority of wells in the village are hand-dug, unlined, and uncovered. The commonest method of preventing cave-in at the mouth of the well is to make a cover-slab of timbers with an old tire as an opening, and then pack clay between the timbers to stand on when drawing water. This structure is prone to erosion, difficult to effectively cover, and unsanitary. Villagers consider it a luxury to improve their wells. With the implementation of a repair project, the villagers will be able to see and understand the process of reinforcement. Community members directly involved will gain confidence in their own ability to improve their situation. They will also gain the skills involved in assesing the problem, determining an appropriate solution, planning a project, and the physical skills involved in well repair.




The project was directly requested by the chief of the village. He proposed the idea to the Water and Sanitation Committee, which was initiated by the Peace Corps Volunteer and peopled by the chief. The Committee supported the idea, and the Volunteer presented well-repair options. The Committee and the Volunteer together selected the top well repair presented in the Volunteer’s Water and Sanitation handbook, based on well conditions and feasibility.

The Volunteer prompted the Committee to form a budget and timeline. Each beneficiary household has voiced approval of the selected type of repair, added pertinent details about the extent of current erosion, and voluntarily promised to supply labor and available materials. The Committee has divided responsibility according to the positions of the Committee members, with the treasurer handling finances, the secretary recording project meetings, and so on.


The Water and Sanitation Committee members have committed to providing the semi-skilled labor for the project. Each household with a well to be improved has committed to providing the locally available resources and the unskilled labor for the project. Local transport will also be provided by the villagers. The contribution of the community will equate to roughly 35% of the total project. A complete budget is available here.

The first phase of the project is to collect locally available materials such as sand, gravel, and timbers. This will be done by each of the five well owners, who will also prepare the well area for work by removing existing superstructures and clearing the area of debris. The Peace Corps Volunteer and her local supervisor will go to the city to purchase supplies and arrange for them to be transported to the market town. From there, Water and Sanitation Committee members will take supplies to the village by donkey cart.

Once the supplies have been mobilized, bricks and well-cover slabs will be cast by the Water and Sanitation Committee members. The slabs will be reinforced and cast with a metal door included. Each well owner will water the bricks and slab for his well over the next week to cure them. While the cement is curing, excavation will begin on the wells. Well owners will carefully remove soil, timbers, old tires, and any other obstruction from the mouth before digging out the shaft. The excavated shaft will be 1.2 meters in diameter wider than the finished well diameter and will be 4.0 meters deep.

The next phase, which will be shared between Water and Sanitation Committee members and the well owners, begins with leveling off the base of the wide excavated shaft. A concrete anchor is poured on the base, with rebar reinforcements. The anchor is watered and allowed to cure for two days before bricklaying begins. Bricks are mortared together from the base to two layers of bricks above the surface. As bricklaying procedes, backfill is added behind the new well lining, and thoroughly compacted.

The final phase takes place above ground, and is done by the well owner. The cover slab is added, the support timbers are installed for the pulley, and a creped wash-area is situated nearby at the discretion of the women in the household. A soak-pit is dug and filled with large rocks to catch the wash-water. A family meeting moderated by the volunteer to discuss sanitary well use and well treatment, completes the process for each well.



The Water and Sanitation Committee will learn about project management by managing the project, with support from the voluntter. They will also learn or improve their skills for brick and slab casting, bricklaying, and general concrete work. Well owners (and their families) will also be able to practice those skills.

More importantly, the wells themselves will serve as examples of safer and more hygenic water sources that can be made by the villagers themselves. The demystification of the repair process and the success achieved in this small initial project will boost the confidence of the entire community in relation to improving one’s own situation.

Ultimately, it will be a lack of interest in improving a well rather than lack of funding that will prevent a family from going through the process themselves. Because of that, the selection of wells owned by several of the most prestigious villagers was an intentional attempt to make improved wells into status symbols that people will be proud to own and motivated to care for.

If you have any questions at all, please get in touch with me!  When the project is approved it will be found on the Peace Corps Partnership Program web page.  You search for Mali and Water and Sanitation, then look for my name.  I'll announce when the project is live, here, too.  I encourage you to donate to it, please!