Adeso Publishes Water Baseline Assessment from Badhan, Somalia

 

Badhan, Sanaag, Puntland – In the first quarter of 2023, Adeso’s team in Somalia conducted a baseline assessment on the water situation in Badhan, Sanaag. The baseline was to document the current situation regarding water is for Badhan’s residents. This is before Adeso disrupts the system and introduces a water social enterprise to the town.

The Adeso team completed the baseline after Durdur Water Enterprise’s team drilled two high-yielding boreholes in Badhan. Although ideally this baseline should have been conducted before drilling, our team still captured a moment in time in Badhan. Before Durdur’s team piped water and its first ever water network account is complete.

One can read the Baseline Assessment: Badhan Water Supply Report here.  Adeso’s team hopes that this report is informative to paint a current (Q1 2023) picture of Badhan, Sanaag, Puntland, Somalia. What we hope is that this baseline has captured the current state. So that after Badhan received piping directly to households, schools, hospitals, health clinics and businesses, that we can demonstrative transformative change. Badhan will move from a place of water insecurity and scarcity to water secure.

5 Key Challenges from Water Baseline Report

 

The team conducted Household Surveys, Focus Group Discussions, Water Sample Tests, as well as informal discussions with residents of Badhan.

All in all the 5 most pressing challenges that were highlighted with regards to water were:

1. Reliability:

At times of worsening drought conditions and increasing demand for water for water trucking services, reliability decreases while cost significantly increases. As demand increases everywhere, it is not uncommon for a business to be serving a location one day and has moved on the next, without prior warning. This leaves vulnerable families with little access to water.

2. Affordability:

Generally in times of drought, the price of water that is available often skyrockets from$3 to $8 per 200-liter barrel. This is a price that many cannot afford. USD$92 was spent monthly per household on water. The cost of water was higher than the average monthly expense on medicine, rent and repairs.

3. Accessibility:

Currently all residents (99.7% reported) of Badhan access water through water trucks and the closest water source is 30 kilometers away. This means that 0% access water through piping. Across Puntland, 27% of households have piped water.

4. Quantity:

90% of people in Badhan are not even drinking 15 liters of water per day (lower than Sphere‘s minimum standard per day). 67% of survey respondents mentioned that either them or anyone in the households had not had enough water to meet their daily needs in the past 7 days preceding the survey.  Because water was not affordable, households are drinking far less than is recommended. As shown above water scarcity affects hospitals, schools, livestock and households alike.

5. Quality:

Adeso’s team tested 4 boreholes (2 outside of Badhan and 2 within Badhan that Adeso will use for piped water) – each borehole sample tested “failed” or did “not comply” to multiple World Health Organization’s (WHO) standards. Typically in arid parts of Puntland, the borehole water is described as “hard” water, with high concentrations of calcium and magnesium‍. The boreholes tested with an analysis of calcium ranging from 570 mg/L to 739 mg/L with the recommendation being below 150 mg/L; and an analysis of magnesium being 126 mg/L to1,090 mg/L; and with the recommendation being less than 100 mg/L.

 

 

Adeso’s Water Enterprise Drilled for Water

 

 

In December of 2022, Adeso’s Water Enterprise roared to life after successfully drilling 2 high-yielding boreholes in Badhan. Read about it HERE.  And watch our video HERE.

“We used to travel long distances and pay $8 per barrel 2 months ago, now we pay $3 per barrel. Affordable water means improving our living standard for the whole family. Especially our access to water for drinking, cooking, and increasing our financial income, and having more time to spend with family, on education, or work.”

– Roda, Mother of 9, Badhan

 

 

 

 

Durdur Water Enterprise to Pipe Water to Homes in Badhan

 

After Badhan’s Water Account is up and fully running, we will hope to show transformative change and significant impact:

  1. Water will be safer and cleaner, more accessible, more reliable and more affordable. We will treat the borehole water with Reverse Osmosis technology removing contaminants and making it a safer drinking source; it will be piped directly to households and trucks to others all in a more reliable and affordable manner.
  2. Usage of water will change. We can expect this to change significantly, from going from limited supply to running water, people will use water for more than basic necessities. Examples that we hope will ultimately happen (beyond the short-term captured in an Endline): Growing Household Gardens, Watering livestock better, Installation of showers and bathtubs, Installation of Flush Toilets, Building with bricks and other water-intensive materials, Greening the area.
  3. The amount of water used will change. With more affordable, continuous, safe, running water, we anticipate that each person will increase their use, for drinking and across all uses of water.

 

Please stay tuned for our next blog post on developments from Durdur Water Enterprise.