The prior goal of Engarre is to provide clean drinking water to people who don't have it. We start our mission in an area of Tanzanian mainland, undeveloped bush areas where people depend on water from nature - from rain and local lake. Dry seasons have prolonged and rainy seasons have shortened significantly during the last years here which makes access to water very difficult.
The vision of Engarre is to find the best ways of bringing good water to people. We study, listen, test, practice and learn. We are ready to carry on the ways we find to be good and effective to further places in Tanzania and abroad.
Even in Slovakia, the country we come from, are places that lack direct access to water. We found a small farming area which was abandoned because of drought in the summer - no rain, hot dry wind, environmental pollution in the neighbourhood. Local farmers were able to keep only few or no crops alive using just the rain water caught earlier in the season. The only way to save the garden with fruit trees and vegetable beds was to let drill a water well.
We used this opportunity to practically test and experience the whole process as we already knew this is needed in Tanzania too and the process will be similar. Both in Europe and Tanzania water well drilling rigs are used to drill wells. The difference will be in the depth of drill needed - in our pilot project some 50 metres were needed to hit groundwater aquifers and get good access to water. In Tanzania, where we operate, it is usually 150 metres and more. Check out our video and picture gallery to learn more about the water well drilling process.
The pilot project in Europe and the planned project in Tanzania have more in common. One thing is to drill a water well. Another thing is to bring the water up to people, animals and plants. In compliance with the environmentaly aware philosophy of Engarre we decided to have the water pump powered by solar energy. We set a reasonable energy-management, run the pump in the hours of strong sunshine and used water tanks to store water which was pumped up to the surface to have it available also in the evening hours or on the cloudy days.
Following the principles of Engarre, water in selected water tanks is available to the public for free, mainly for the old people in the neighbourhood who have not enough resources and no more power to supply water for their gardens themselves.
At present we are preparing to test effective ways of cleaning the water, using materials and equipment which would be usable in Tanzania too, making the water pumped from the well drinkable and harmless under all circumstances.
Drilling a water well for public use in Tanzania, where Engarre operates, turns out to be crucial nowadays. The drought is so extreme, that even the local lake dried completely this year (2022). The only source of water left for local people are water holes used to give water to animals. This water is not suitable for people already from the first sight - it is dirty, muddy, full of bacteria that cause health problems. Helping out with this lack of harmless, drinkable water we would also improve the health of local people.
Drilling a water well in the village is step one. We already know from our research in the area, that water from the deep aquifers underground is highly mineralized and is not drinkable without prior adjustment. So as we want to provide local people with clean and harmless drinkable water, the following are essential in the project:
