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Water is Life! Kpokope Community at standpipe
GETTING STARTED - Mafi-Dekpoe Water Project
AMURT's involvement in the North Tongu District of Ghana's Volta
Region started in 1990 in Mafi-Dekpoe with an educational
campaign to combat the Guinea Worm menace. After employing
meetings, house visits and theatre, the AMURT team soon realized
that the best way to help the people would be to provide safe
drinking water. A dam built by the Russians in the 1960's for
agricultural purposes held enough water for a project to serve
the ten villages. AMURT was able to build a water treatment
plant using the slow sand filter technology to purify the dam
water. DANIDA paid for the piping and distribution. The work
took years, but in August 1998, the water finally started
flowing.
MOVING ON TO MAFI-ZONGO
Before the Mafi-Dekpoe project was completed, AMURT was
approached by the assembly man from Mafi-Zongo. The were also
badly affected by Guinea Worm. They needed a similar project.
AMURT got a grant from the UNDP and constructed a dam, and the
water treatment plant was constructed with help from AMURT
chapters in the US and Europe. Committees were organized with
representatives from the communities, and this committee took
the lead in organizing the communal labor and various aspects of
the project planning.
COMMUNITIES COMING TOGETHER TO COMPLETE THE RESERVOIR
After building the dam, and the water treatment plant; at the
end of 2002 we were looking at the daunting task of constructing
a reservoir or water tower on the top of Kpokope Hill. The
project design calls for the treated water to be pumped from the
water treatment plant to the tower, from where it will flow by
gravity to the communities. The logistical problems were
considerable. How to convey heavy construction materials to the
top of the mountain? The community organizers, Emperor and Kudjo,
along with AMURT coordinator, Brohim, worked hard to mobilize
the communities. Fifteen truck loads of sand, along with 600
bags of cement, and hundreds of iron bars and planks of wood
reached the summit and the construction was completed in July.
The capacity of the tank is 100 cubic meter, or 100,000 liters.

Pulling up the
pipes was a dangerous and difficult job

Here are the
Kpokope Mountain Heroes –
the local boys lifted and secured heavy iron pipes on the steep
mountain side
The women of Kpokope took up the task of
providing rocks and stone chips for the construction. They
climbed and chipped the rocks with hammers straight of the
mountain near the construction site, more than 1500 head-pans.
The communities take great pride in the
construction of the water tower. The Zongo water project is
community owned and community managed. The participation of the
communities through labor, sand and rocks, is a key component to
instill the spirit necessary to make the project sustainable.
THE WATER REACHES THE VILLAGES
2005 was a pivotal year for the project. By summer the difficult
and dangerous installations of iron pipes on the Kpokope hill
was completed, the pumps, generators and filter media was
installed at the water treatment plant were installed well tuned
and tested, fifteen kilometers of pipes were laid and 21 pipes
stands constructed to deliver the water to the first ten
communities. The regular distribution of water started in
September.

The water
treatment plant produced water of a clarity and quality
that had not been seen in the communities before.
2006 and LOOKING FORWARD
January 2006 saw the beginning of an important new partnership
between Mafi-Zongo Water Project, AMURT and Engineers Without
Borders. The EWB Tucson, Arizona chapter has committed to three
years of technical assistance. Their service is invaluable in
overcoming the many technical challenges, and decipher all the
complexities involved in making a giant project like this run
smoothly and effectively.
THIRTEEN MORE COMMUNITIES JOIN THE PROJECT
End of January also saw the start of Phase 2. Thirteen
communities started the work and digging the trenches that will
expand the pipe network to close to 50 km. The spirit of unity
and commitment is demonstrated through colossal effort of
communal labor. As of end of May, 2006 about two thirds of phase
two trenching and pipe laying is completed. And we hope to
conclude Phase 2 by September 2006 where the project will serve
more than 8,000 people. Next year we will evaluate the
feasibility of a phase 3 to added 2,000 more people to the
project.

The conveying
of the pipes to the trenches was done by the women

After laying
the pipes, the trenches must be filled immediately

The women did
most of the work to prepare the filter media at the Water
Treatment Plant
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THE DAM OVERFLOWING
2004 and 2005 were marked by concern about the dam
capacity, as the Volta Region was hit by draught.
However, May 2006 saw torrential rains for days, and
the dam overflowed to the point of threatening the
integrity of the dam. The communities stepped in to
rescue and to shore up the dam so that the precious
water can be safeguarded for the rainy season.
A MODEL IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
We are facing challenges to establish the project
financially, technically and managerially. The
communities are determined and have assumed the
management of the project, AMURT will remain until
the project truly stands on its own legs, in order
to be a model for other community development
projects in Africa and beyond.
Mafi-Seva
community clinic
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The water is distributed
on a pay and fetch
basis. Here the meter reader comes
to collect the weekly revenue from
the standpipe attendant at Adiekpe
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Thanks to
our donors and partners:
Amici Nel Mondo, Postal, Italy
Regione Trentino Alto Adige, Italy
Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano, Italy
Gruppo Missionario di Merano, Italy
Caritas Italiana, Italy
AMURT-Italy
As. Scambi Internaz. Minerbio, Italy
Gli Altri Siamo Noi, Parma, Italy
Asili Nido di Parma, Italy
Lanesra Foundation, Manila, Philippines
Neo Humanistisk Barnehage, Oslo, Norway
AMURT USA |
The water projects of North Tongu District is the result of hard
work by
the communities and strong determination by the local dedicated
AMURT
staff. However, we remain reliant on contributions from
individuals and
funding agencies to complete the project. We are still looking
for sponsors
for the finishing stages of the project, most significantly the
distribution and piping.
To contribute you can:
2. Send a donation via the
AMURT Global
office in Washington DC, USA.
3. For those not living in U.S.A. donations can also be sent
via bank transfer to: :
AMURT
Account number #3702602
BARCLAY'S BANK
Makola Branch, Accra
GHANA
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
AMURT Ghana
P. O. BOX 328,
Mamprobi, Accra,
Ghana
Tel: +233-21-666-746


AMURTEL Ghana, our sister organization, provides good quality health
care
in rural villages,
focusing especially on women's needs
(safe motherhood)
and preventative health care for children.
Visit
AMURTEL Africa website |