The Haiti Water Drill Team is in the midst of drilling 4 wells for the future site of the University of Notre Dame of Haiti in the area of Morne Blanch in Gonaives. The new wells will support an agricultural school and farming area as well as meeting the needs of the students. Members of the drill team change slightly at each site, as Peter & the core members incorporate local people into the drilling process to inspire them to take ownership of their project and to promote local participation.
Breaking Down the Regions
Haiti is divided into ten Departments, and the Departments are divided into communes. In the first quarter of 2018, Haiti Water completed a community assessment for the commune of Dessalines, east of Gonaives. Dessalines was the community in which Haiti Water installed four chlorination systems several years ago, but many homes in the commune are still largely without water. Meetings were held with representatives of each local community, and an assessment was made of the current state of water availability throughout the commune.
The study identified a total of 45,454 houses in the commune with only about 28% of those houses having access to potable water. Access is defined as, “a source of water within 500 meters or about a 1/3 of a mile from the home.” The assessment concluded that to meet those needs, an additional 64 wells need to be drilled, 31 wells need to be repaired, 30 piped water systems need to be built, and 11 captages need to be constructed. When completed, an additional 160,000 Haitians will have access to clean water in the commune!