Modaso
EcoSan Ghana drilled for water in front of a primary school in Modaso (Diaso), Ghana, using a FloFlo drill tower (percussion drilling). See YouTube video. The dry-composting toilet will be build about 150 meters away from there.
.
The FloFlo
The FloFlo is an ancient drilling tool, modernised by dutchman Floris de Vos in 2011 (see Facebook page) The FloFlo employs a hoist using a three legged tower. The drillbit is repeatedly hoisted and released to pulvarise the hard soil as it hits the ground. Once a substantial amount of soil has been pulvarised, the drillbit is replaced by the bailer, equiped with a valve, to pull out the soil. Thus it is a manpowered drill tool. Anyone can do it, and it is cheap and efficient.
.
Waterpump - The First Phase
Drilling started on August 16, 2016. Then on August 19 the kit holder got loose, which was fixed on august 20. On august 22 the drilling resumed. On September 2, the queen Nana Adjei Maanu and the odikro (elder of the village) stopped by for some encouraging words. That very same day, after 13 days of drilling, water was found, at 50 feet depth. Two more days of drilling in the water got us to 54 feet deep.
.
Waterpump - The Second Phase
In the second phase, the pipes and the pump were installed (see YouTube video When two different contractors from nearby towns were asked for an estimate, they however charged us too much money (€4100 and €1900 respectively, not even including a polytank, and a normal pump instead of a solar powered pump), so that we first need to buy the needed materials ourselves. We promised the queen that we would definitely return to finish our work there. We covered up the hole for safety reasons and packed our gear. We bought pipes, pumps and solar panels in China, and imported them into Ghana. Then we finished our project, also installing a polytank so that there is constant supply of water, even when the sun doesn't shine.
.
The Costs
For the second phase, we needed casing pipes. We bought 100 meters of casing pipe in China; total costs including shipment and import (taxes etc): €23.30 per meter, which adds up to €466, in total (5 * 4 meter). The polytank cost about €370 and a solar powered waterpump €556 (including import). Total costs: 1392 euro. In June 2018 we found out that during the rainy season one solar panel lacks the power to sufficiently fill up the polytank during prolonged periods of cloudy weather. Thus we had to install an extra solar panel, on an additional pole.
