Mali water feature

Clean water gives time to live

"Access to clean water impacts everything from health and sanitation to micro-enterprise opportunities to education" Wilfred Mlay, World Vision Africa Vice-President

Villagers in Mali know the truth of Wilfred Mlay's statement. Each household has at least one member whose job it is to obtain water for cooking, drinking, watering the animals and, if any is left, bathing. For these people, collecting water takes much of their day. Children assigned to this task miss out on schooling and return home each evening, exhausted.

Water in Mali is typically obtained from traditional hand-dug wells, which are easily contaminated. As these wells dry up, people are forced to travel further to obtain water, involving ever greater distances and taking increasing amounts of time.

"Unfortunately, it is the boys and girls who end up doing all the work," says Samuel Diarra, World Vision Mali rural water project manager.

World Vision works with a number of partners, including the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the Japanese government, to provide better water access for Mali communities. More than 110 boreholes have so far been drilled, serving more than 45,000 people in Mali.

Before drilling in a village begins, World Vision teaches local people to manage their water resources, and sets up water and sanitation committees to educate them about hygiene, disease prevention, latrine building and pump maintenance.

Communities contribute labour and small amounts of money to construct water systems, ensuring the community owns its system and accepts responsibility for its upkeep. Everyone who draws water pays a small fee to the water and sanitation committee to be used for ongoing maintenance.

Each water system requires a reservoir tower, extensive piping and several water stations – each with a carefully constructed apron, laundry station and a separate animal trough to prevent contamination. Some villages use solar panels to pump water into the reservoir tower.

"This type of system where you have clean water flowing through pipes simply by turning the tap is making the quality of life much better for everyone in the village," says Samuel Diarra. "It is reducing the incidence of diarrhoea and dysentery and providing other direct benefits to the community including gardening, which leads to better nutrition and increased family incomes."

As well as a direct impact on health, in many villages water projects have become a driving force for World Vision development activities like education, food security and income-generating activities. Women can use the extra time, and the greater availability of water, to grow vegetable gardens to improve the nutrition of their families and communities, or take part in other income-generating activities such as soap making.

Dangatene village is already benefiting from their new well, and there are tangible benefits for the children. "The children who were collecting water are now back at school. People have time to do other activities. They have time to live," says Samuel Diarra.