Technical Part

 

There are two rivers and five springs in the village of Bulungula which the local community use for all their needs. These are totally unprotected and thus easily accessible to animals and cattle, which not only drink but also bathe there.
The South African government analysed the water of the two rivers and some of the springs in February 2008. According to the results the water has a very high amount of E-Coli bacteria which means that the water is unfit for human consumption.

Our aim is to protect and line the water source and to lead the water into a small cistern. In this way the water is protected from bacteria and dirt and can be easily collected by the locals of the village. The water should also not get into contact with bacteria whilst being transported to the homes; how we deal with this you can read here.

 

A big trench will be dug into the slope where the source is situated, beneath the water conducting layer. (2-3m high, v-shaped, 5-6m long)
A drainage pipe will be placed in the trench. At the lower end of the pipe a waterproof concrete wall will be built, which encloses the v-shaped trench like a dam (1m below). Next the trench will be filled up with gravel (between 0,5-0,7m), so that the water can easily percolate through it to the drainage pipe. The gravel layer will be sealed on top with concrete or clay, so that no water from the top can flow into the spring.

Finally the trench will be filled up with the left over excavation.
A normal PVC-pipe will carry the water, depending on the local topography, into the cistern. Surplus water will flow into a cattle watering basin, and then into the flow of the stream.

We would also like to build a fence to protect the spring. In the event that the spring is situated on a steep slope, we will plant trees to protect it from erosion. These detailed decisions will have to be made on-site, when we are there.
We hope to get active support by the locals as this amount of work will be impossible for us to do alone, using hand tools such as spades. Because there are no roads to Bulungula, working with an excavator is impossible. Also, the spring lining shall be as cheap as possible, using simple materials, so that locals helping us to line the spring can continue protecting springs independently after we have left. It is our intention to protect one spring in cooperation with the locals as a model, which can be reproduced by the village in the future. For this there could be two to three team leaders, who we will be work with from the beginning; hopefully, they will be able to lead further spring protection projects in the future. On our part we will document the each step of the construction work, to provide a portfolio to Bulungula and neighbouring villages for future use.