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Boreholes and pit latrines in Uganda

RedR TSS
RedR TSS
KnowledgePointAdmin
RedR CCDRR

I will shortly be departing to Uganda to assist with a charitable organisation near Kampala. The charity work is usually geared towards supporting an orphanage; however as I am a qualified Civil Engineer I have been asked to consider several projects while I am there. These are: Reviewing existing boreholes and the site for several proposed new boreholes Meeting a supplier for bio-sand filters for the above boreholes - and to make recommendations Review the potential for using a reservoir instead of boreholes Review the possibility of rainwater harvesting Review sanitation arrangements - particularly within the local village where there are either no formal arrangements or pit latrines which would affect groundwater. I'd be grateful for your advice and some essential reading matter!

Regards,

Mari


1 Answer

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Things like the pit latrines polluting the groundwater are not always such a big concern - it is usually much better to ensure good excreta disposal i.e. a lot of working pit latrines, even if they pollute the groundwater somewhat. By the time the groundwater reaches the well (or even borehole) fecal pollution is likely to have been filtered out. Sanitary surveys in Engineering Emergencies are a good idea for this kind of situation.

Specific guidance from TSS might be much more useful - providing solutions to specific problems observed by Mari than giving her generic texts. Texts might be good for the rainwater harvesting parts and reservoirs - there are some small earth dam books in the library

Bio-sand filters - a good resource is https://www.biosandfilter.org/biosandfilter/ which is one of Bushproof's websites.

Regards,

Toby