OPTIMIZATION OF THE KAHEMBA AQUEDUCT

Support for the démunies of the cité de Kahemba and technical support to the aqueduct management committee

Between 2013 and 2017, the Italian NGOs ISCO SC and ACRA, thanks to a grant from the European Union and the Renato Grandi Foundation, have built an aqueduct that supplies the approximately 20,000 inhabitants of the town of Kahemba, in the Province of Kwango with drinking water, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In June 2019 GSI Italia decided to intervene at Kahemba together with ISCO to try to solve two important problems that arose after the first two years of continuous operation of the aqueduct.

Every year hundreds of people move from remote villages in the Kwango region to go to Kahemba hospital, the only hospital within a hundred kilometers range.

These people in difficulty, coming from the small villages of the Territoires de Kahemba, join the many families residing in the cité de Kahemba who live in conditions of extreme poverty.

GSI Italia and ISCO aim to provide basic support to these people, the so-called démunies, by collecting the necessary funds for the purchase of medicines, food and drinking water.

The high maintenance costs of the system, increased compared to the initial forecasts due to the rapid wear of the centrifugal pump due to combined phenomena of erosion/corrosion, have led GSI Italia and ISCO to engage in the search for a technical solution that can allow to extend the useful life of the pump, significantly reducing the system management costs.

Specific objectives

SO1: basic support for the démunies

SO2: extension of the barrier to the drinking water source

SO3: modification of centrifugal pump impellers

SO4: technical training of the aqueduct maintenance team

Expected results

R1: improvement of the quality of life of the démunies

R2: increase in decantation with consequent reduction in the quantity of sand sucked in by the pump (less erosion)

R3: lengthening of the useful life of the pump with consequent reduction in the costs of managing the aqueduct

R4: completion of the process of autonomization of the local personnel for the technical-economic management of the aqueduct.

What to do:

– regular financial support to guarantee the purchase of drinking water and medicines for the most needy families (the so-called démunies);

– expansion of the existing reinforced concrete barrage of drinking water source that is pumped into the aqueduct storage tank and then distributed through 47 fountains (94 taps);

– purchase of a pump and modification of the impellers with a special ceramic coating in order to extend the useful life, reducing the costs of managing the aqueduct;

– organization of training periods in Congo and in Italy to train local technical personnel, in order to complete the process of the whole technical and economic autonomy initiated since the construction of the aqueduct (2013).