Dukana is a small town in Marsabit County which is approximately 880 kilometers north of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. The vibrant centre sits just a stone throw away from the Kenya-Ethiopia border. An additional 40 kilometers will put you smack in Ethiopia.
Preparing for a drilling job in Dukana requires meticulous planning, stamina and staying power. It is a long, torturous journey of four days with just a few stops along the long road. Thankfully, previous experience working in this area gave our crews sufficient preparation and planning skills.
The road to Marsabit town – although long and tiring – is tarmacked and therefore manageable to navigate. It is the next 280 kilometers rough road replete with huge rocks and bad terrain that is a nightmare. Our new truck tyres all received a major beating!
Other than the rough roads, Dukana is a beautiful village with sandy sceneries and temperatures hitting 40 degrees Celsius on a normal day. The biggest challenge for the pastoralist community is potable water for domestic use and livestock consumption. Travelling tens of kilometers for water is common place. Cattle, camels, donkeys, sheep and goats are some of the livestock the community rears for food and upkeep and need sufficient water.
Water for the World had quite a unique experience in Dukana spending more than a week with the local community and drilling four boreholes, two of which were successful with good yields.
The first two boreholes in Daka Baricha village were 85 and 70 meters respectively but unfortunately, they turned out dry. This necessitated siting another location in Dororoboji village. Drilling there commenced on 20th February 2020 and drilling completed in a day. The 70 meter borehole yielded 1,000 litters per hour.
The W4W drilling crew proceeded to drill another borehole in Dukana town. Thankfully, the 50 meter deep borehole drilled in just one day yielded 6,000 litres of fresh water per hour! With this good yield the borehole can now quench the thirst of the whole community together with their livestock.
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