We observed the different sources of water in 4 villages. We surveyed the people to find out water sources they used? Rain water? Streams? Well? etc. We took water samples of the drinking water sources in each village (both wells and streams) to analyis the quality of the water (parasites? bacteria? physical compounds? chemical compounds? etc. ) Every sample came back positive with some form of parasite and bacteria, simply, NOT suitable for drinking. While "some" villages have wells, the water is not available all year round, and the water is not suitable for drinking. Many of the villagers complained about the saltyness of the water. Only 4 out of the 300 villagers surveyed treated their water in some way (sedimentation, filtering). NONE boiled the water. The water that these villagers drink is a major source of the diseases they suffer from regularly...
Villagers collect water on an average of 2 hours (to 6 hours a day) in this village.
Collecting water is a tedious chore, and requires much time and strength.
The water collected from the well is yellow in color. Would you drink this?
Some villages don't have wells, but rather drink out of stagnet, streams and pools of water like this one above. Bilharzia, ring worm & hook worm, schistosomiasis, etc. are some of the diseases the villagers pick up, even by standing or bathing in the water source, they also drink from.
This is the one and only bore hole in the center town of Garkawa, where we stayed during our visit in the rural area. The amount of garbage present is a good example showing the ignorance about water and its connection to disease, by the villagers.
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