Solar well with decontamination system

Sanoufily is a small village located in Sedhiou region (Senegal), with among 800 inhabitants, close to Kindombalicounda and Bissari villages. The area has just few wells, digged in rural methods and not reaching the underground layer, empting out rapidly and causing serious problems on hydrical provision. Additionally, salt-intrusion phenomenon caused an acidification and contamined the underground soil and layer resulting in contamined and salted reservoirs. Children and older people are most endangered,ineed a 60% of illnesses is due to contamined water with a high risk for infections. giardiasis and cholera.
The project aims to dig a modern reservoir reaching the underground layer to provide water at any time to Sanoufily and surroundings, equipped with a solar-supplied immersion pump and an osmotic desalination system decontamining and preventing water from bateria and viruses through UV ray, so providing high quality water. That will be also a chance to put more responsibility on communities about hydrical resources and gather a local team to mantain and manage filtering system. We estimate to reach about 2.500 individuals coming from Sanoufily and surrounding villages. This system represents an absolute technological innovation for the whole country of Senegal, an Humanitarian model aimed to promote water access, being that a primary resource for children’s life and wealth.

Positive Impacts and Technology

The reservoir Balouo Salo represents a referring point for hydrical providing thanks to its realization technology, considered the lack of water in existing wells and their building methods. Thanks to its depth of 17 metres ( different from traditional ones reachin only 5-7 mts) the well reaches the underground layer where mostly flows waters with higher quality level due to the flow itself and not coming from stagnant ones. Layer presence is fundamental in providing water during dry season, differently form other wells regenerated from undergound deposits.
Water is extract water thanks to a 24V lifting immersion pump, supplied by two solar panels of 80W each, adding to the abundance of water coming from the simple reach of the layer. The system will send water on cycles (calibrated on communities usage) through a decontamination programme organized on a sequence of : UV sterilising sytem -> sand filter -> osmotic filter. The filter cleans water from any deposit, but most of all from bacteria and viruses, desalining and providing high quality water. Once depurated,it is gathered and kept in two covered reservoirs in shadow and prevented from alterations, accessible at every moment. Thanks to this programme, communities and families will drink potable and safe water; children in particular, pregnant women and older people who are the most affected subjects from viruses spreaded by water coming from old wells.
The reservoir is featured by architectural elements underlining its Iconic character and valorizing water issue, creating a social meeting point all around it.