WATER
Lifeline’s ClearWater Initiative responds to Africa’s most challenging humanitarian crisis: the scarcity of water resources for drinking and farming.
We address the African water crisis in three ways:
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Water Site Creation
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Preventative Maintenance
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Irrigation
Creation of Water Infrastructure
Piped Water Systems
Lifeline recently expanded its Clear Water Initiative to include the construction of piped water systems. So far, Lifeline has completed two such systems, which together are serving the clean water needs of about 5,000 individuals.
Hand-Pump Equipped Boreholes
Over the past 20 years, Lifeline has constructed and/or rehabilitated more than 660 fresh-water wells. With each well serving an average of about 100 households, Lifeline has satisfied the clean water needs of over 320,000 villagers at an average cost of $20 per person.
Community Engagement
As communities that are invested in their water points are more likely to value and protect them, Lifeline strives to involve those communities throughout the construction process and beyond by, among other things, securing their commitment to:
Ensure access to the water site
Pay a modest origination fee
Contribute labor
Form a water user committee for day-to-day upkeep
Subscribe to EverFlow
Preventative Maintenance (EverFlow)
The paramount cause of Africa’s water crisis is not the absence of water infrastructure, but rather the failure to maintain what is already there. In fact, about 30% of newly constructed boreholes become dysfunctional within just 3 to 5 years.
To address this problem, Lifeline has created EverFlow – a social business enterprise that functions as a quasi-utility, ensuring rural communities uninterrupted and long-term access to clean water.
Under EverFlow, participating communities pay a modest monthly subscription fee in exchange for which they receive:
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Bi-annual services visits from </br>certified pump mechanics
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Remote monitoring of pump </br>performance via sensors
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Access to a toll-free </br>Help Desk hotline
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Emergency repair visits </br>within 24 hours of reporting
The Results Speak for Themselves:
A borehole functionality rate of 0% and access to clean water 0 days per year.
Irrigation
Lifeline’s drip irrigation initiatives seek to build climate resilience and improve the financial well-being of smallholder farmers.
Under this initiative, Lifeline offers farmers with access to an open water source a package of drip irrigation equipment, and/or a human-powered water pump, under a lease-to-buy arrangement.
The equipment enables farmers to harvest their crops during dry season when prices are at an apex and gives them the ability to better withstand the unpredictable rainfall patterns that have come with climate change.
The Impact for Participating Farmers
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A three-fold increase <br/>in their harvests
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A corresponding increase in their incomes from $700 per year to over $2,000
