CASE STUDY

THE TEAM

Daisy Adams undertook a study with Water for Africa in August

2014, in The Gambia.

Daisy is currently studying Water and Environmental Engineering

at the University of Surrey and working as an Assistant Scientist

(Microbiology Analyst) for the National Laboratory Service.

She carries out microfiltration on an industrial scale; testing

the bathing beaches water quality (mainly for Escherichia

coli and Streptococcus) and commercial work using MLSA;

testing for total and faecal coliforms. Daisy is passionate about

environmental science, water and geological sciences and has

volunteered for various other causes, including at the

Global Water Brigades.

Water for Africa (WFA) has their own in-country drilling

organisation and regularly conducts borehole testing, borehole

data collection and recording, amongst other operations.

BACKGROUND

Daisy carried out sanitary hazard surveys and water quality

testing on three water supplies in Tendaba Village; a dug well

with hand-pump, a borehole, and a dug well with hand-pump and

wind-pump.

The work was carried out for Daisy’s MSc degree project at the

University of Surrey, where she has been taught by Professor

Barry Lloyd; the inventor of the first Oxfam-DelAgua Water Test

Kit. “Prof. Barry Lloyd was so interesting, I’m currently reading

studies and books by him; a pioneer in his work.”

WATER SOURCES TESTED

There are three different water supply

systems supplying the community at

Tendaba Village. All three different water

supplies tap into a groundwater resource.

The borehole abstracts water from a

different, deeper ground groundwater,

although it is unclear if the covered well

with hand pump at the school and the

wind-pump tap into the same groundwater

resource. The land surrounding the water

installations is primarily rural with livestock

such as goats and sheep roaming. There is

limited agricultural land near to the wind-

pump. The vegetation is lush and green and

overgrown around the installations (this

is due to it being the ‘rainy season’ in The

Gambia). There are no treatment systems

in place for the community members.

BOREHOLE WITH MECHANISED PUMP

The borehole with mechanised pump

supplies water to three community stand

pipes at the top of the village and to

Tendaba Camp. There is one outlet pipe

coming from the borehole running to the

Camp; the pipe splits inside the Camp

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boundary and there are two lever valves

after the split in the pipework. One of the

pipes lead to a tank, which supplies the

whole of the Camp and the other pipe leads

to the stand pipes. A local plumber helped

Daisy collect a sample from the pipe just

before it enters the tank.

COVERED WELL WITH HAND PUMP AND WINDMILL (WIND-PUMP)

The wind-pump was built in 1994 and

supplies water to the bottom end of the

village only. The water pressure is too low

to supply the top of the village.

The wind-pump is located at the bottom of

the village, at a lower elevation, nearer the

River Gambia (which is salt water and tidal

at this location). The wind-pump supplies 9

taps/standpipes in total, 4 are available to

the community located at the bottom of the

village, the remaining 5 taps are located in

private compounds. The wind-pump also

supplies water to the nursery school, where

it is pumped to a storage tank at the bottom

of the village.

The installation provides water to the

standpipes providing there is wind. When

the wind is not powerful enough to power

the wind-pump, there is a hand-pump at

the well for the community to collect water

for personal and domestic use as well as for

irrigation when water from the standpipes

is not available.

Farmers use the covered well to get water

from the hand-pump for irrigation of crops

in nearby farmland during the day, however

Tenbada is primarily a fishing village and

agriculture is low.

COVERED WELL WITH HAND PUMP

The covered well with hand-pump is

located at the top of the village near the

Lower Basic School; this supplies the

school only and is not connected to any

standpipes. The well is available to the

community, but due to its location at the

top of the village, the community do not

tend to use it; although access is available

constantly.

USING THE DELAGUA KIT

On using the DelAgua Kit, Daisy says, it

“really is brilliant. It’s very simple to use, the

manuals are easy to follow and it’s a very

sturdy piece of kit. It’s very handy when

there is no access to a laboratory. The kit

was great, and because of my feedback, the

charity who drilled the borehole wants to

purchase one.”

RESULTS

Average thermotolerant coliform

count/100ml

Hand Pump: 65 c.f.u/100 ml

Borehole: 0 c.f.u/100 ml

Wind-pump: 151 c.f.u/100 ml.

Upon analysing the results, Daisy

commented “It was quite worrying knowing

that the villagers were drinking water with

a high faecal coliform count. My visit to

Gambia was my first ‘hands-on’ experience

of micro-filtration, but now I know the

difference between the laboratory,

environment and working in the field.”

This is an ongoing project and Daisy is

currently in the process of writing up her

findings to present a water safety plan. This

will identify the hazards associated with

the water supplies and how to reduce or

eliminate them.

Daisy plans to return to The Gambia next

April, the dry season, to test the water

again and compare the difference in results

between seasons.

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