Problem
Meshenani is located near the northwest corner of Amboseli National Park. It is a chronically dry area and home to approximately 1,600 people spread out over a relatively large area. There is a school close to the park that almost 300 students attend, and about 1,000 people live nearby. Farther from the park is a group of villages with about 600 rural Kenyans.
Their water came from a hand-dug shallow well 10 miles away from Meshenani. With such a great need for clean water, it was clear a borehole well would be necessary. In the summer of 2008, we drilled Meshenani’s first well.
Solution
Unfortunately, the well yielded no water. Since the community still needed water, we surveyed another site and drilled again. This time we hit water, and a lot of it: almost double the typical yield of a borehole well. However, the news was not all good. During test pumping, we realized the groundwater was saline, too salty to drink. It was heartbreaking for both WILK and the villagers to have two wells, neither of which could provide potable water.
Status:
Borehole capped, not usable
Photos from Meshenani Borehole
