How much does it cost to build a water well in Kenya?

Small-scale farmers are perennially frustrated by unreliable rain and drying rivers yet they can get constant water supply from a borehole in less than 45 days.

Although there are no exact statistics showing cumulative losses for livestock and crop farmers, farm input investment year in year out is consumed by drought.

Last year, the Government announced that more than 1.1 million people were vulnerable to famine after rains failed to support crop and livestock in most parts of Kenya. As a result, the cost of living shot up.

For those who want to drill out water from the ground for all-year-round farming, Borehole Masters is one of the companies to consult.

Cost

The Technical Director of the company, Joseph Kioi, says it will cost between Sh1.7 million and Sh2 million for one to start tapping water from a borehole for household and farm use.

The company's hydro-technicians first carry out a hydrological-geological survey to help them understand the type of soils and arrangement of rocks if any. "This takes about seven days," Kioi said.

After the survey, the technicians  write a report on environmental impact assessment that will be submitted to National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) for approval of the borehole project at a cost of Sh45,000.

Together with Water Resource Management Authority, a permit will be issued between 21 and 30 days.

“These two agencies must be convinced that the project will be sustainable, while benefiting the owners and society. They can approve or disapprove based on their analysis of the report,” Kioi, who doubles up as the borehole projects manager, said.

The cost of drilling varies from region to region, depending on the soil stability.

"The cost per metre is higher in areas with weaker soils because more work will result from collapsing of the hole walls during drilling."

In Nairobi for instance, one will pay Sh6,500 per metre while someone in Garissa will pay Sh21,000 per metre.

In Machakos County, one will pay is Sh6,800 per metre, even as those in Kitui and most Western, Rift Valley and Nyanza regions pay an average of Sh7,800 per metre.

“This amount will cater for casing and piping of the case, chemical analysis of water to determine usability, statutory tax (Value Added Tax), among other miscellaneous items,” Kioi says

Installation

In Nairobi, sufficient water will be available from 250-350 metres. In Machakos' Ruai, from 100 metres.

For this reason, the company gives room for negotiations with clients.

Installation of a pump, water pipes and metres and other equipment for a borehole of 195 metres can cost up to Sh680,000, the technician said.

In this case, a pump pushing 2,000 litres per hour is installed after a 24-hour testing of the consistency of water flow. Drilling and equipment installation takes a maximum of two weeks.

Prospect

Borehole Masters provides customer support for up to three months after installation.

An idea of partnering with financial institutions to fund borehole project is at conception stage, Kioi says.

Although there are no timelines set, this programme would help small-holder farmers who cannot raise the monies needed to sink boreholes at one go.

Report criticises donors, governments and NGOs for installing boreholes and wells in rural Africa without ensuring their long-term sustainability

Annie Kelly

Fri 27 Mar 2009 00.15 AEDT

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted on clean water projects in rural Africa, according to a new report.

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) says up to US$360m has been spent on building boreholes and wells that then become useless because they are not maintained or fixed when they break down. As a result, 50,000 water supply points are not functioning across rural Africa.

According to the report only one third of water points built by NGOs in Senegal's Kaolack region are working and 58% of water points in northern Ghana are in disrepair.

The report's author, Jamie Skinner, says that water points are often built by donors, governments and NGOs without fully consulting local people and finding out just how much it will cost to keep the boreholes clean and functioning over a sustained period of time.

He said drilling a borehole in a rural community was akin to asking people to run a cooperative private water supply.

"There is no point an external agency coming in, putting in a drill-hole and then passing it over to the local community if they can't afford to maintain it over the next 10 or 20 years," he says. "There needs to be a proper assessment of just how much local people are able to finance these water points. It's not enough to just drill and walk away."

This problem has arisen in Katine sub-county in north-east Uganda. In 2007, before the African Medical and Research Foundation and Farm-Africa began their development work in Katine, worms were found in the polluted water supply at the village of Abia, next to the Emuru swamp. A badly constructed and poorly maintained shallow well, dug by a charity, was full of soil and animal faeces and was making local people sick.

Amref's strategy in Katine is to train local communities to operate and maintain the new safe water points that have been established in the sub-county since the project began.

Water and sanitation committees have been set up to monitor the new boreholes that have been dug and contact newly trained hand-pump mechanics if one breaks down. The committees meet regularly with village health teams to discuss needs and the idea is that everyone who uses the boreholes and wells will contribute financially to their long-term upkeep.

But last year water engineer Bob Reed argued on this website that rural water sources cannot be sustained without continuing external support and that boreholes were simply unsustainable.

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