Make the difference

Water Supplies

Samaritan’s Purse is working to provide safe water supplies in African communities, through provision of:

• HAND DUG WELLS These simple wells are lined to help protect the water and a hand pump is fitted for ease of access
• BOREHOLES Some communities have boreholes that have fallen into disrepair. Samaritan’s Purse is repairing non-functioning boreholes and training local communities to look after them themselves
• SPRINGS are places where water that has been filtered through soil and rock reappears from underground. This water is often therefore safe to drink. Samaritan’s Purse is helping to protect springs – building a protective catchment area around them and providing a tap for people to draw the water – thus protecting the water from contamination by animals or human waste.

Household Water Treatment

Samaritan’s Purse is providing BioSand Water Filters to families who have access to water, but where the water is not safe to drink. These filters are made from local materials and use a process called ‘slow sand filtration’ to filter out dirt and kill bacteria.

Health & Hygiene Education

Samaritan’s Purse is training local educators to teach people about how to use water safely. This includes ways of obtaining and storing safe water, how to dispose of waste, and the importance of hand-washing and hygienic food handling.

Latrines

Samaritan’s Purse is helping to provide latrines for communities to improve hygiene and prevent disease from spreading.

Community Water Treatment and Distribution Systems

In some situations, a small water treatment plant can be used to purify water which can then be piped to tap stands in communities. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends no longer than 1 km or 30 minutes travel to a water point.

For more information about our current projects, click here.