Work and Play

Its been two weeks since we have been in Ghana. It is hard to tell if Ghana is our home or New York....

After week filled with stress and hard work, we have started the week off with relaxing trip to Volta Region. It was well deserved rest but we are back in business!

This week started with the development of the Borzey House well, as well as the pump tests of both of the new wells. The Primary School has yield of 24 L/min, and the Borzey House well has the yield of 32 L/min. This gives us the total yield of 56 L/min. This yield is below our predicted yield, which could be partially accounted to the shale rock which was present at the sites instead of the predicted granite and gneiss based on the geological maps of Ghana that were available to us. We also had some difficulty with our contractors rushing to finish the wells, which caused the Primary School well to be fairly shallow (the absolute minimum of our design).

This week, we have also ventured out to Nsawam to purchase one tank for the submersible pump, as well as pipes, connectors, and all other equipment. We chose to "recycle" an unused tank by the latrines. This ordeal ended with one member of the Unit Committee going into the tank to unscrew it from its original location. He did not hesitate at all, he just disappeared inside.

We have also constructed temporary concrete platforms for the tanks at both sites. We quickly realized that the concrete blocks were very heavy. We struggled to carry one block with two people, while the mason casually transferred the blocks from the stock to the construction site. We had so much fun balancing...I mean we did our fair share of work compacting the cement and gravel of our platforms. Yes, hard labor indeed.

(Ok we actually dug pits for the pipes)

After 6 hour deliberation with our main contractor, we have finalized and signed the second contract to install the submersible pumps for the new boreholes. Next on our radar is the Electricity Company, as the pumps will need to the connected to electricity.

Thank you for reading the update,
EWB Columbia University Ghana Summer 2016 Travel Team