Assessment of Spring Boxes in Western Kenya

While in Western Kenya during January EWBers Ben Taylor, Patrick Border, and Peter Rasmussen traveled to local spring box sites in and around the town of Webuye, which is the town near Namawanga where we stay when working in the village. Spring boxes are structures, typically made of concrete, which are built around natural springs and function to collect and filter the natural spring water. Ben, Patrick, and Peter collected data and pictures of the spring boxes in order to determine improvements needed at each water source. They found several recommendations that could be made to improve the quality of the water coming from the spring boxes and protect the water sources. We are currently working on a report to send to the Webuye Municipal Council that outlines recommended improvements that could be implemented to improve these spring boxes. This is the first step in expanding our work outside of the Namawanaga village and into neighboring communities. To learn more about our projects or make a contribution go to www.ecs.umass.edu/ewb.