Water Basins for 8,000 Villages using Solar Power

Rainwater catchment basin in the village of kamsi has now been retrofitted with a small scale drip and sprinkler system powered by solar irrigation pumping system. This solar powered drip and sprinkler irrigation system was funded by USA embassy in Burkina Faso. Community Building Group has also contributed in the project toward the Global Giving money raising campain.

On Thursday, 28 September 2017, a inauguration ceremony was held in the village of Kamsi. About, 270 women of the "Noong-Taaba Group" of Kamsi are the direct beneficiaries of the project. With this new irrigation system, the women will have three growing cylcles vegetable crops in dry season

Testimony of Elisabeth who is the president of the women “Noong-Taaba Group of Kamsi”: This project is a great help we received, and it will help us a lot, as now we don’t have to manually supply water in the field. Before, every single day, we spent all our time to get water from the water well, and carry it to the field.  To irrigate this small plot by hand take us increasingly huge among of time, because we start sometime around 9am till 5pm. This was very hard for us. Look at my hands! We don’t even think about increasing the production acreage when we irrigate manually. Now, we are very happy, we don’t carry water anymore manually, thanks to the new solar irrigation system. We are all grateful with the sprinkler and drip solar system. Now our manual labor will be reduced significantly. Watering the field was the hard task. We are very happy. We will work in turn to extend land area from 0.75  to 2 hectare ".

Sophie, a treasurer of the Noong-Taaba Group in Kamsi said that: "Only God knows our deep joy in these days, and we thank everyone involved in this work for given us this project, thank you for this initiative, may God bless them and reassure you that our thoughts go to you all at all times.

Through this project, the women of the village of Kamsi will be financially autonomous. This is a very successful example, therefore we call everyone to work hand in hand for an extension of this innovative prototype across Burkina Faso and elsewhere. 

Over the last six months, the CBG-WA local team has been working with the residents of  Kamsi to strengthen the water retention basin and to continue preparations for the installation of solar equipment to power drip irrigation systems for the gardens and farms in the village.

Recently, cracks were found on the dam walls in places. Also on the right bank side, the portion prepared to support the emergency spillway at this point had deteriorated. In terms of basin strengthening, villagers have agreed to contribute money for the repairs. A mason in the village has been identified, who will be helped by young people, to inspect and do the necessary work.

The village women identified two places in the gardens for the development of the project drip irrigation system. Also a third location was identified for sprinkler irrigation. At each location (the first and second) identified by the women, there are two wells nearby and the wells are about 50 meters apart. These wells have a thickness of 2 meters each are close to full at present. The rainwater catchment basin is doing its job - catching water and restoring the water aquifer.  The restoration of the aquifer enables the water table to rise, and provides water for the village each day of the year.

Josephine, the President of the Women's Food Cooperative, states: " This new basin is the best!  We have water and lots of it. You can see how high the water is in the wells.  It's incredible, we have never had this much water. We are so thankful to CBG-WA for helping us have this rainwater catchment basin."

The timetable for the installation of the solar-powered irrigation equipment and system is for the material to be sent to Kamsi in mid-August and fully installed by the end of August. The installation will be very important for the effectiveness of the gardens.  The Chief of the Village says: "We have over 4,600 people in our town and all are benefiting from the rainwater catchment basin. Everyone in the village worked hard to have the basin, and work hard now to use the water correctly.  It is a wonderful benefit to us.  Please tell all involved that we are truly thankful."

Since the United States Embassy in Burkina Faso helped to pay for the water irrigation system, in late September there will be a ceremony celebrating the use of solar energy and handing over the project to the villagers. The members of the community, many government officials and personalities will be attending to help enjoy the wonder and need for water.