Water wells: how they work

More than 300 million people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to a source of clean, safe drinking water. But that’s not because the water doesn’t exist. On the contrary: water in that part of the world is fairly plentiful. 

What’s lacking is the infrastructure to pull that water up from the ground and deliver it safely to people.

That’s why Embrace Relief’s Clean Water Initiative is laser-focused on building water wells in Africa, providing a sustainable piece of infrastructure that can have an enormous positive effect on communities wherever they are built.

Since we began our Clean Water Fund – as well as our “Fountains of Hope” project, which rebuilds abandoned and inoperative wells – Embrace Relief has provided a life-sustaining source of drinking water to more than 500,000 people in the African nations of Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria. 

Why has this strategy been so effective for Embrace Relief? Because the technology is simple, the wells themselves are relatively easy and cost-effective to build and maintain, and because our well designs are easily adaptable depending on the local geography.

So, how do Embrace Relief’s water wells work? It’s a top-to-bottom process:

• Hand pumps: Above ground, community members can access the clean water from our wells via a manual hand pump, with a cemented basin to protect the inside of the well from contamination. This simple design, and the minimal amount of force required to use, means it can be operated by most people of any age or gender. 

• Depth: On average, our well pipes are dug roughly 45 meters (about 147 feet) below the surface. This means we’re tapping into safer, cleaner water sources. This is already a marked improvement for most sub-Saharan Africans, whose most common sources of freshwater include rivers, ponds or open watering holes prone to contamination by bacteria or waste. Water found this deep underground is significantly less likely to be contaminated in any way. 

• Filtration: To provide even more safety, Embrace Relief’s wells include a multifaceted filtration system comprised of decanters, strainers, and filters at the bottom of the well, to remove various sediments and ensure nothing harmful reaches the surface. 

• Sealed pipes: Our wells use galvanized pipes, which are designed to be used safely for many years before needing replacement. These pipes are sturdy and protect the pumped water from any outside materials. 
• Maintenance: Embrace Relief has committed to funding annual maintenance checkups and repairs for five years after a well is built. In addition to responding to requests to fix broken parts, our partners on the ground will provide an annual inspection at each well site, testing the water for any impurities or contamination, over the first five years of the well’s life.

Each well Embrace Relief builds can provide thousands of people with the benefits of clean water, giving hope and a brighter future to entire communities.

People with universal access to clean drinking water are healthier, safer, more well-educated, more productive, and more prosperous. Clean water makes a positive contribution to women’s equality, too: young women and girls often bear the brunt of back-breaking journeys to obtain water for their families, taking away precious time they could spend receiving an education or earning an income.

For such a small investment, it’s hard to make a bigger impact.

Help Embrace Relief deliver clean water to people who need it

Embrace Relief’s Clean Water Initiative continues to expand, with ambitious goals to build 250 new water wells in the immediate future, providing water to another quarter-million people. To do that, though, we need your support.

Donating to Embrace Relief’s Clean Water Fund and our “Fountains of Hope” project is the single-best way to ensure that thousands of people will get the water they need.

But there are more ways for you to help Embrace Relief fight the clean water crisis. On Saturday, June 25, we will be hosting our inaugural H2Ow Far Can You Walk: 5K Walkathon at Liberty State Park in New Jersey. This family-friendly event is open to people of all ages and abilities, and will help raise awareness and money for building and rebuilding water wells in Africa.Every dollar donated during our 5K Walkathon will provide more than 2,000 gallons of clean, drinkable water for those in need. For more information, and to register, click here. We look forward to having some fun in the sun with you as we help improve hundreds of thousands of lives.