1. CASE STUDY
THE TEAM
Daisy Adams undertook a study with Water for Africa in August
2014, in The Gambia.
Daisy is currently studying Water and Environmental Engineering
at the University of Surrey and working as an Assistant Scientist
(Microbiology Analyst) for the National Laboratory Service.
She carries out microfiltration on an industrial scale; testing
the bathing beaches water quality (mainly for Escherichia
coli and Streptococcus) and commercial work using MLSA;
testing for total and faecal coliforms. Daisy is passionate about
environmental science, water and geological sciences and has
volunteered for various other causes, including at the
Global Water Brigades.
Water for Africa (WFA) has their own in-country drilling
organisation and regularly conducts borehole testing, borehole
data collection and recording, amongst other operations.
BACKGROUND
Daisy carried out sanitary hazard surveys and water quality
testing on three water supplies in Tendaba Village; a dug well
with hand-pump, a borehole, and a dug well with hand-pump and
wind-pump.
The work was carried out for Daisy’s MSc degree project at the
University of Surrey, where she has been taught by Professor
Barry Lloyd; the inventor of the first Oxfam-DelAgua Water Test
Kit. “Prof. Barry Lloyd was so interesting, I’m currently reading
studies and books by him; a pioneer in his work.”
WATER SOURCES TESTED
There are three different water supply
systems supplying the community at
Tendaba Village. All three different water
supplies tap into a groundwater resource.
The borehole abstracts water from a
different, deeper ground groundwater,
although it is unclear if the covered well
with hand pump at the school and the
wind-pump tap into the same groundwater
resource. The land surrounding the water
installations is primarily rural with livestock
such as goats and sheep roaming. There is
limited agricultural land near to the wind-
pump. The vegetation is lush and green and
overgrown around the installations (this
is due to it being the ‘rainy season’ in The
Gambia). There are no treatment systems
in place for the community members.
BOREHOLE WITH MECHANISED
PUMP
The borehole with mechanised pump
supplies water to three community stand
pipes at the top of the village and to
Tendaba Camp. There is one outlet pipe
coming from the borehole running to the
Camp; the pipe splits inside the Camp
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2. boundary and there are two lever valves
after the split in the pipework. One of the
pipes lead to a tank, which supplies the
whole of the Camp and the other pipe leads
to the stand pipes. A local plumber helped
Daisy collect a sample from the pipe just
before it enters the tank.
COVERED WELL WITH HAND PUMP
AND WINDMILL (WIND-PUMP)
The wind-pump was built in 1994 and
supplies water to the bottom end of the
village only. The water pressure is too low
to supply the top of the village.
The wind-pump is located at the bottom of
the village, at a lower elevation, nearer the
River Gambia (which is salt water and tidal
at this location). The wind-pump supplies 9
taps/standpipes in total, 4 are available to
the community located at the bottom of the
village, the remaining 5 taps are located in
private compounds. The wind-pump also
supplies water to the nursery school, where
it is pumped to a storage tank at the bottom
of the village.
The installation provides water to the
standpipes providing there is wind. When
the wind is not powerful enough to power
the wind-pump, there is a hand-pump at
the well for the community to collect water
for personal and domestic use as well as for
irrigation when water from the standpipes
is not available.
Farmers use the covered well to get water
from the hand-pump for irrigation of crops
in nearby farmland during the day, however
Tenbada is primarily a fishing village and
agriculture is low.
COVERED WELL WITH HAND PUMP
The covered well with hand-pump is
located at the top of the village near the
Lower Basic School; this supplies the
school only and is not connected to any
standpipes. The well is available to the
community, but due to its location at the
top of the village, the community do not
tend to use it; although access is available
constantly.
USING THE DELAGUA KIT
On using the DelAgua Kit, Daisy says, it
“really is brilliant. It’s very simple to use, the
manuals are easy to follow and it’s a very
sturdy piece of kit. It’s very handy when
there is no access to a laboratory. The kit
was great, and because of my feedback, the
charity who drilled the borehole wants to
purchase one.”
RESULTS
Average thermotolerant coliform
count/100ml
Hand Pump: 65 c.f.u/100 ml
Borehole: 0 c.f.u/100 ml
Wind-pump: 151 c.f.u/100 ml.
Upon analysing the results, Daisy
commented “It was quite worrying knowing
that the villagers were drinking water with
a high faecal coliform count. My visit to
Gambia was my first ‘hands-on’ experience
of micro-filtration, but now I know the
difference between the laboratory,
environment and working in the field.”
This is an ongoing project and Daisy is
currently in the process of writing up her
findings to present a water safety plan. This
will identify the hazards associated with
the water supplies and how to reduce or
eliminate them.
Daisy plans to return to The Gambia next
April, the dry season, to test the water
again and compare the difference in results
between seasons.
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