Water Is Life Kenya – How A Recipe of Geoscience Garnished Passion Makes for Hydrophilanthropic Success!

Water is Life Kenya (WILK) is a 501(C)3 Non-Profit Organization established in 2007 to bring clean water and life-changing opportunities to remote Massai tribal communities within the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro in southern Kenya.  Like many small charities helping develop water projects in Africa, WILK’s success is a result of the enduring efforts and passion of its founder (an accomplished opera singer and former HBO executive now living in Kenya) and volunteers (primarily family and friends) to raise awareness and the funding for these life saving water projects.  To date, over $250,000 has been raised for boreholes, water tanks, rainwater harvesting, food relief and educational offerings which have benefitted nearly 20,000 Massai people.

Despite its overall success, WILK experienced some expensive failures in its early endeavors related to drilling dry or salty boreholes, primarily as a result of making location decisions based on questionable geologic advice received from local geologic consultants and government agencies.  Fortunately, WILK has since found volunteers with hydrogeology/water resource engineering backgrounds to provide technical review and guidance for its projects.  This technical resource has already helped WILK focus its efforts on more sustainable projects.  For example, based on technical reviewer recommendations, no additional funds were spent for pump testing a well with marginal water quality, and participation in a 50-km long water pipeline project was suspended over pipeline design concerns.  Although these hard decisions were disappointing to those hoping to be served by these projects, the funds were instead invested in other viable projects.            

Proceeding forward, WILK now conducts a detailed scientifically based assessment of each new water project with respect to its probability to succeed given the site hydrogeology and related engineering considerations.  This approach will ensure that only those water projects with the lowest risk/maximum potential for success will be developed in the future.