““Please do groundwater location and water quality studies only. We have other stakeholders who can drill for us, but we have no one who can locate the best places for boreholes and find out why the water in so many of our [existing] boreholes is too salty or dirty for drinking or even washing.””
Very few charities use modern technology to determine where to drill water wells. Consequently, they often waste a lot of time and money drilling dry holes or constructing wells that yield only a little water, because they don’t know where the water is.
Where we work in Uganda, the groundwater is found in the cracks in the bedrock. The problem is that the cracks are almost always buried beneath a thick layer of tropical soil. Therefore, well drillers often miss these hidden cracks and end up with a dry hole or a well that yields only a little, sometimes dirty, water.
GULP is unique, because we use a five-step process to find buried, water-filled cracks that will yield a lot of water.
First, we look at satellite data and aerial photographs for signs of buried water-bearing fractures.
Second, we measure the directions of the cracks in the rocks above the ground to determine the directions of the water-filled cracks below the ground.
Third, we make maps that show the approximate locations of the fracture traces identified in step one that have the same orientations as the actual fractures measured in step two.
Fourth, we examine the maps for potential drilling sites. The best sites are locations where several long fractures intersect after passing beneath rivers, wetlands, lakes, and/or large volumes of saturated soil.
Fifth, the potential sites are visited to verify the presence of buried fractures and pinpoint their exact locations using scientific instruments that send an electric current and low-frequency radio waves through the ground.
The end results of GULP’s approach are:
groundwater location maps for regional planning and development,
a large database of optimum water well drilling locations,
a higher percentage of successful boreholes, which saves donor money and increases access to water for drinking, washing, and growing food, and
empowered women and children, freed from the burden of traveling long distances to fetch water.
Click Here to download our brochure that describes what we do in greater detail.