The Juxtaposition of the Great Lakes: How One Nonprofit is Tackling the Global Water Crisis

The water crisis is only growing, but that’s where PVC can help.

Canada, New York, Michigan and several other states. This vast basin of water holds 21% of the world’s fresh surface water, but what many of us may not realize is how crucial these lakes are to the United States’ drinking water supply: 80% of American drinking water comes from here. It’s extremely valuable to have this resource so readily available.

Africa also has its own Great Lakes. These lakes hold even more of the world’s fresh water (25%) than our North American Great Lakes – but the water situation is not quite as auspicious as in the United States. The African Great Lakes have seen increased discharge and pollutants, making much of the water more difficult to treat. Further, delivery does not reach the rural poor and other underserved communities.  Government water is treated and piped in many urban areas and small towns, but remains untrusted, irregular is service, and at a cost unaffordable to many.

That’s where Drink Local Drink Tap (DLDT) comes in. This nonprofit works within the U.S. and overseas to educate and advocate for clean, safe, affordable drinking water for all, while also building and rehabilitating water sources in Uganda. DLDT’s mission is two-fold:

1. To be good stewards of the water we must address environmental issues and ensure that projects can be sustained; and
2. As a fundamental human rights issue, ensure people have more equitable access to water to meet basic needs.

In many African countries, access to clean drinking water is not as simple as turning on your tap – often, rural people walk an average of 4 miles a day to find, collect, and haul water that may not even be safe to drink.  Sources tend to be exposed, shared with animals, and availability can vary from season to season and year to year.

There’s even more at stake than just a person’s health when they don’t have consistent access to clean drinking water though. “When people don’t have equitable access to clean water, they also don’t have access to opportunities,” said Erin Huber, DLDT Founder and Executive Director. “Women in Africa use over 40 billion hours of their lives annually just hauling water.”

As is custom in Uganda and many African countries, it is often a woman’s or girl’s job to fetch water for the family. The hours-long trek for water often prevents these individuals from being able to go to school or work. Huber explained that when you install a clean, safe water source in these communities, you see the residents’ health and school attendance improve immediately. In addition, safety is improved, especially for females who can get attacked along their walk for water.

How Does DLDT Solve This?

To date, DLDT has provided more than 30,000 Ugandans with safe drinking water. From its first moments in existence, DLDT has focused their construction efforts on drilling boreholes (wells) and building rainwater collection systems where no access existed previously. The organization also creates facilities that change behaviors around proper sanitation, such as building child-friendly, ventilated-improved-pit (VIP) latrines that encourage people to ‘go’ inside safely rather than outside. On a typical project, Huber and her Ugandan team meet with village leaders to understand their specific needs, while also evaluating their readiness for dealing with water access. Building and maintaining a cost-effective borehole to provide a long-term clean water source is no simple task. This effort requires a high degree of technical aptitude, so DLDT focuses much of their initial readiness assessment on the abilities of the local stakeholders.

The team works with village residents to select a borehole site where natural water input, or catchment, could be maximized, and to conduct the installation. For example, the borehole site is generally upslope of potential sources of pollution, such as cattle operations or pit latrines, with other considerations for the type of earth present. The borehole itself consists essentially of a vertically drilled hole, a strong lining (often called a well casing) to prevent collapse of the drilled walls, a strong screen that allows clean water to enter the borehole space and hold back other material, and a means of extracting water such as a hand pump.

Boreholes have a diameter between 4 and 8 inches and are installed to a depth of anywhere from 10 to 100 meters. Once drilled, the borehole is constructed by inserting lengths of protective permanent casing to line the wall of the hole. Well casings are often made from rigid PVC and supplied by the same manufacturers who produce PVC pipe. These are lowered into the hole to the required depth and joined together just as regular pipe would be joined, leaving a small portion visible above ground level. The DLDT team then instructs the village leaders how to operate and maintain a deep-well hand pump to ensure that water can be drawn successfully long after the team leaves the site. The team also teaches about borehole development and cleaning techniques, proper disinfection, and how to identify and troubleshoot water quality problems. The team’s ongoing monitoring efforts are also critical to long term success.

Why PVC?

When it came to choosing the most appropriate pipe material to build this water infrastructure abroad, DLDT needed something with several requirements that influenced their decision making. The material needed to be:

• Easy to transport to rural villages;
• Resilience to withstand decades of use with little repair;
• Little leakage to ensure preservation of this natural resources;
• And of course, affordable.

The best choice for most applications is PVC.

In the U.S., even, much of our nation’s infrastructure is crumbling, as the antiquated and corroding iron and cement pipes are well past their service life. PVC is often the choice to replace our domestic water infrastructure – why wouldn’t it be the best choice to build new water infrastructure abroad?

Based on lifecycle analyses, PVC pipe has a service life of 100 years, several decades longer than alternatives, and based on a Utah State University study, it had fewer leaks than its alternatives. As a material, it is lightweight, making it easy to transport, and it’s easy to install. In many, if not most, water infrastructure projects, it is the most affordable and sustainable option. PVC provides DLDT the opportunity to provide lasting change to these communities and ensure an astounding 100% success rate in all their projects.

Ensuring a 100% success rate

It’s one thing to create water access in a community who hasn’t had access. But it’s another thing entirely to ensure the continued access and supply of water. This is what sets DLDT apart from others. Even local district governments appreciate the thoroughness and quality of work and monitoring.

On average, 80% of water projects fail in the first two years. But 100% of DLDT’s projects are fully functioning. “It’s about adding value and durability, and not just getting a project done,” Huber said.

Often in the international aid space, you will see agencies operating with the savior complex – having the goodhearted intentions to help but delivering unhelpful help by assuming an outsider knows what a community wants and needs. Huber has worked hard to prevent this mindset in DLDT’s employees and partners – instead, she instills a mindset that DLDT is a community partner, not a donor. To help in this, DLDT’s staff is 100% Ugandan in Uganda.

Leading up to the installation of a new water source, she works with community leaders to get buy-in and set expectations. Gathering an inclusive group of community members, including village councilmen, district water engineers, an equal male and female, teachers, and students, and even signing a memorandum of understanding, assures that everyone in the village can play a role and feel invested in these projects.

Throughout her nonprofit’s journey, Huber has made it a priority to invest in her team, promoting professional development and empowering decision-making. When not in Uganda, she’s still providing daily support, but it’s up to the team in Uganda to maintain DLDT’s quality and standards in all aspects of their work. No less important, the team builds and maintains relationships with communities.

“We know how to design things that work,” Huber said. Although DLDT just celebrated its 10-year anniversary, they continue to maintain a startup mentality, constantly adapting to best meet the needs of the people they are serving.

Right now, DLDT has a variety of proposed projects they are seeking funding for, and they are always looking for additional partners. Interested in working in partnership with DLDT? Visit their website, donate, or contact Erin Huber to find out more.