Building a Well in Djati, Guinea Bissau - Photo Update

I heard that the well digger decided to take a week off. 

As I mentioned before, people are really afraid with the unsettled political situation in Guinea Bissau.  Djati is so remote that for these workers it seems like it is at the other end of the world! We can't blame them for wanting to be close to their families.

But, the well digger returned this weekend.  It looks like he works four days on, then runs home to check on family and comes back.

And, progress is being made. There is water at the bottom of the well!!  They have dug ten meters so far. Freddy wants them to dig at least twenty.

I have been assured, it will be done!

The type of hand dug well they are digging in Djati is outlined on the WaterAid website. Click here if you would like to see the explanation in detail.

The traditional method of obtaining groundwater in rural areas of the developing world, and still the most common, is by means of hand-dug wells. However, because they are dug by hand their use is restricted to suitable types of ground, such as clays, sands, gravels and mixed soils where only small boulders are encountered. Some communities use the skill and knowledge of local well-diggers, but often the excavation is carried out, under supervision, by the villagers themselves.

The volume of the water in the well below the standing water table acts as a reservoir, which can meet demands on it during the day and should replenish itself during periods when there is no abstraction.

Depths of hand-dug wells range from shallow wells, about five metres deep, to deep wells over 20 metres deep. Wells with depths of over 30 metres are sometimes constructed to exploit a known aquifer.

Freddy and the well diggers

Maritza and workers in Djati

 

"Eureka!"