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 Water is a necessity for life and
the challenge of providing themselves with water is one that the Congolese face
everyday. Tradition and experience have shown the Atetela people of Central
Congo that healthy living requires them to build their villages on the plateau
well above the valleys where the abundant streams flow with life giving water.
This means that their water sources are far away from where they live and that
the water they use must be carried up steep hills from the valleys
below.
This difficult and
arduous task of carrying water from the springs to their villages occupies much
of their time and saps their energy daily. At any hour of the day one can
encounter women and children climbing the steep hills with buckets or other
containers full of water on their heads! While the water is abundant and pure
in the springs flowing from the hillsides in the valleys, it is a long way from
where it is needed.
There is a relatively
simple solution to this problem and it is a technology that has been around for
several hundred years. It is
the Hydram or "Ram", as it is called, and it is a simple device that
uses the inertia of falling water to pump itself up to significant elevations
over long distances. An earthen dam or water falls that provides as little as
12 - 15 feet of drop is fed into a "Ram". The Ram is designed to
allow the water to flow momentarily and then suddenly shut off the flow in a
way that forces the momentum of the falling column of water to seek another
path to take. That path is through a heavy rubber check valve into an air
chamber that cushions the shock of the abrupt blockage and forces a smaller
quantity of water into a pipe that takes the water up the hill toward a holding
tank or tower. The tower can then supply a village or station. While the
quantity of water is relatively small, the fact that it pumps day and night and
requires no costly fuel makes it an ideal method of providing water to a small
community.
The Lodja Mission of the
United Methodist Church in Central Congo had such a system in use for 20 years
from the mid-1950's until 1976. At that time, unusual rains and seepage from
the hillside caused the dam to give way and the system was no longer
functional. Villagers and mission personnel were once again forced to get their
water from the valley one bucket at a time.
The project now being
planned is to restore that hydram
water system at the Lodja mission of Diengenga. The original ram has been
salvaged and with a minimum of parts can be put back into use. The PVC pipe
from the original water system is still available and useable. The primary need
is to rebuild the dam that will provide the fall or "head" needed to
activate the ram. It will once again be an earthen dam, but this time a
concrete core is planned to stop seepage, drain tile will evacuate water from
the back side of the dam and bamboo will be planted on the back of the dam to
hold the soil.
The dam will be built
mostly by hand and will require a team of men to work for many months. The
salaries of these men will be the primary expense in addition to some parts for
the ram and repairs to the distribution system on the station. Just by
employing the local people to build the dam we stimulate the whole regions
economy. This project alone will be the biggest employer in the area.
The expectation is that
once restored and functional the water system will serve the homes of several
thousand people indefinitely. The maintenance of the water system will be
simply replacing the rubber check valves on occasion and making certain that
the air chamber does not become water logged. The dam will also be inspected
regularly for any signs of deterioration.
This vital project is an
opportunity for persons who care about the work of the Central Congo and the
lives of the people there to participate in improving their lives for years to
come. Anyone who wishes to be a part of this project can……
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