We started with a hand pump well. We contracted with a company out of Kampala to come drill a bore hole well. The auger bit broke about 40 meters deep due to the bedrock and required an expensive replacement bit. Eventually, they got to a good spot in the aquifer 80 meters down.

The hand pump is near the road at the edge of campus, and anyone who wanted to use it could come and fill their Jerry Cans.

As time went on, we secured enough funding to retrofit the well with an electric pump powered by a generator.

We had plumbing run up to the campus and installed two 5,000 liter cisterns on a concrete base at the top of the hill.

In conjunction with the cistern project, we built boys’ and girls’ bathroom facilities with showers, toilets, squatty potties and hand washing stations - as well as 2 campus spigots and sink station for the kitchen area. These facilities are gravity fed running water from the 2 cisterns.

Because water spigots were now on campus (no longer by the road), we had safety concerns about community members coming on campus to retrieve water.

In an effort to build a sense of ownership and care, we built a 3rd Cistern and concrete platform near the edge of campus by the road. Anyone who wanted to participate in the program could retrieve as much water as they wanted, but each household would be charged a 5,000 Ugandan Shilling (UGX) membership fee (~$1.25 USD) per month. The spigot would be locked, monitored and maintained by the community members who participate. This has worked very well, and we met with the community members to make these plans.