WorldWide Drilling Resource

by Tim Rasmussen The sustainability of safe water for villages is a priority for Water For Life. We learned early on, if villagers are drinking safe water for a year or two and then for some reason they are not able to have access to it and have to drink once again from a contaminated source, the whole village will be sick. We believe it is because people lose the capacity to resist the contaminants when they are no longer exposed to them, and a new exposure brings about a strong response from the body - belly pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and fever. To combat this problem, Berny Leonardo and his helper Samir respond to calls from villages when a problem occurs with a pump or well. They make repairs and put the pump back in service within a few days. We have made an attempt to put a second well in large villages, but it is hard to choose to put a second well in a village where there is already one well when there are other villages desperately in need of their first well. We buy the best hand pumps we can, but wear is still a problem. A pump which would last for 20 years serving a single family will not last very long when serving a village of 400. Things break, and the pivot holes for the handle wear into elongated oval shapes. We tried to get a machine shop in Santa Elena to rebuild the pumps with new bushings and pins, but the results were unsatisfactory. We have talked to the man- ufacturer, but there is no solution to this continuing problem. We are now trying to rebuild pumps ourselves. A generous donor gave us a Mag Drill and annular cutters, and we had a jig built to hold the pump parts when we drill out the holes. We are going to use graphite-impregnated nylon bushings we are also making ourselves from nylon rods. We hope this will extend the service life of the pumps. We will place a few of our rebuilds in very busy villages and keep track of the wear they show. The work goes on and on. More and more villages are asking for help and there is no end to the need in Guatemala. There are very few resources for villages to look to for this kind of help. The government is unable to provide water or power for the people, and the costs of a well are beyond the hope of nearly all communities. Only the cities can afford to have a well drilled, the others do without. Water For Life needs volunteers. We are seeking experienced cable drill op- erators who have a heart to help people, to come and join us. We can offer good accommodations, good equipment, good food, and a chance to change the lives of people forever. Maybe even your own. Please join us. If you would like to help, contact Gary Bartholomew at 509-466-5075 or 509-939-1941 Tim Tim Rasmussen may be contacted via e-mail to michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com Larry Duffield working to rebuild hand pumps with the donated Mag Drill. Hydraulic-Pneumatic tools in stock. Sizes 1” to 20”. 2547 W Success Way Emmett, ID 83617 (208) 365-3492 • Fax: (208) 365-3792 rauchmfg.com • rauchmfg@frontiernet.net Model 113HD All Hydraulic Sizes 1"-13" 37 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® MAY 2017