Day 5 – Part 1: Chisekesi Solar Powered Water Works

Today was to be our last day in Zambia’s Southern Province before heading back up to the big city lights of Lusaka. Our plans today were to visit Chisekesi solar powered water works in the morning and the water kiosks served by the works. In the afternoon we were being taken to a peri-urban, pre-intervention community called Muzoka.

Our day began with a visit to Chisekesi Water Works hosted by Southern Water and Sewerage Company (SWASCO). We were introduced to some of the SWASCO staff responsible for Chisekesi works who gave us an overview of the area and water works. They told us that Chisekesi is a junction town and they estimated the current population at 2500. Chisekesi Water Works currently serves roughly 2/3 of the population so not everyone in the community depends on this water supply. The water supplies a number of water kiosks where the community can purchase water from a vendor who mans the kiosks.

Chisekesi Solar Powered Water Works

Chisekesi Water Works consists of one elevated 10m3 tank which is filled from a nearby borehole. The borehole pump is solar powered which controls a DC unit that continues working throughout daylight hours and shuts off when the sun goes down. Pumping does reduce with cloud cover and they start to experience problems if there are 3 days or more of cloud cover but this is an extreme circumstance. Demand is less in the rainy season due to rain water harvesting but we didn’t see all that many examples of this during our visits. This was the first installation of solar powered technology by SWASCO.

The works was surrounded by a high brick wall topped with barbed wire which we were advised was to prevent theft of the equipment on site. We enquired as to how they decided on what size of tank to install and were told that demand was used to size the existing tank. The tank gives a days storage but during the dry season it only caters for about 30% of the demand. The water is supplied to the community via 2 inch steel and poly pipes.

SWASCO advised that Chisekesi was the first initiative they worked on in partnership with WaterAid.

Chisekesi Water Kiosks

We then went to see a water kiosk which is supplied by Chisekesi Water Works. When we arrived there was a queue of half a dozen women waiting for water. As it was overcast they were waiting for the sun to power the pump so they could get some water for their families.

Chisekesi Water Kiosk

As I mentioned the kiosks are manned by locals who charge for the water and take home 40% of their takings, the rest going to SWASCO. The charge is 2000 kwacha (around £0.25) for forty twenty litre containers which we were advised is affordable for the locals. Each household has a payment book to track all of their water payments. The kiosks are run like small shops as they sell other produce and have become a useful service to the community.

Me and Susie with some of the local Chisekesi kids

Me at the Chisekesi water kiosk with some of the Chisekesi kids

Before the water kiosks were installed the community collected water from hand dug, open wells which was also charged for. They have seen drastic health improvements within the community since the kiosks were put in. Now that they are realising these benefits the community would like more kiosks and a larger tank so there is always a plentiful supply of water. This would reduce queue sizes at the kiosks during the dry season.

Hopefully the funds we raise will make this a reality for the people of Chisekesi. Another informative visit seeing first hand where our fundraising helps so many people.