When Systems Fail - Alannah Delahunty

When water supply systems fail such as wells or boreholes, an entire community can be effected. Water supply system failure is inevitable in areas where upkeep is rare. What is disconcerting about this is that when systems fail, they remain in a perpetual state of failure. This is problematic in most rural areas where the alternative water source is an often contaminated open well source, swamp, river or stream. It is worth noting that most of the failed water supply systems that have failed such as hand pump wells, have been put in after the war in Sierra Leone, after 2003. A number of different problems stem from water failure and alternative water sources.

Health problems such as diarrhoea, vomiting and skin conditions due to drinking, cooking and bathing in contaminated water are common. This often prevents children from going to school, limiting their access to learning and education. Adults who suffer from health problems are prohibited from working in agricultural or other labour roles and thus suffer from a loss of income. Loss of health, education and income can be hugely detrimental to a household and family as rural households often depend on the sum of its parts and the income derived from each part.

The Beginning: Household and Community Surveys

After roughly ten days of work on the household and community surveys, which included a few test runs, we have begun to carry them out in villages. When we arrive in the village, there are customary introductions with the chief and elders. This usually results in a gathering of most of the population of the village, apart from those doing agricultural or other labour. From there, we conduct our surveys.

As it is a rural area, the village conditions are generally the same, depending on the population and accessibility or distance to the road. A general rule of thumb is the farther a village is from the road, the less developed it is. However, sometimes you stumble upon a village that has used indigenous knowledge to develop its own systems of doing things.

Houses and hand pumps or pulley wells are concentrated around the access route into the village. Houses consist of mud or cement brick walls and sheet metal or thatch roofing. Women and elders usually sit outside their houses cooking or minding small children.

People have responded well to the surveys, which is a good sign for data analysis. As we are still in the early stages, we are not making any assumptions about responses, but rather continuing to collect as much data as possible.