BASEflow and Toilets for All are improving Groundwater in Malawi

Toilets for All is collaborating with the Malawian organization, BASEflow, to help integrate sanitation into their groundwater field work. BASEflow’s work focuses on improving the sustainability of groundwater in rural Malawi. Here you can find details of the latrines installed.

Groundwater is the primary source of safe drinking water in rural Malawi. An estimated 1.5 million Malawians access groundwater, through handpumps, for drinking and small-scale agriculture purposes. Nevertheless, 1/3 of water points are constantly non-functional and, as a result of this non-functionality, they reduce safe water access to 2/3 of the population. Not having access to safe water results in the spread of water-borne diseases, productivity losses and waste of water supply investments. Using the theme: ‘(re)discover groundwater’, BASEflow’s mission aims at improving the sustainability of groundwater sources by empowering both the public and private sector with the appropriate tools in a sustainable fashion.

Toilets for All is funding one of BASEflow’s innovative projects: Borehole forensics. The objective of the project is to look into the causes of malfunction of handpump-fitted boreholes in rural Malawi through a detailed assessment of the boreholes’ surface and subsurface conditions. Through the use of Aquagenex water quality testing kits, BASEflow has found some contaminated boreholes which they have been attributed to latrines installed within 50 meters of the borehole. The latrine owners have been asked to decommission the latrines, however some of these homeowners will face financial difficulties in doing so. As a response to this problem, Toilets for All is co-financing the construction of new latrines. Furthermore, BASEflow will use an innovative technology which allows Toilets for All to access remote monitoring.

Despite having reached the UN Millenium Development Goals target, Malawi is still facing a sustainability challenge in the context of groundwater supply. Thanks to Toilets for All funding, `Enhancing borehole forensics` will help to harness the quality of groundwater in rural Malawi in a sustainable way.

Follow the project’s progress through pictures here.

Text written by: Maria Bravo Elvira