Well No. 12

Ybu Pora Methodist Church

 Sponsors - Venture NetComm, Inc.

Lawrenceville, GA

The Methodist Church at Ybu Pora (which means "the good spring") was built by a group of Korean Missionaries from Englewood, New Jersey in the 1990s.  It is a very active church pastored by Rutildo Villalba, who lives across the street form the church.  The area is served by a community well, but the well very rarely functions, and when there is water pressure, it is sufficient to deliver only about 40 gallons PER DAY to each house.  Therefore, they were a clear candidate for a water well project.

The well drilling went "by the book" with no problems.  We even had a retired geology professor named Dr. Denny Bearce come help us log the cuttings.  This is Linda's job, and she was amazed to see the detail that could be gleaned from each little soil sample by a trained specialist.  We drilled the well 200 feet deep and set the well casing to 192 feet.  Getting drilling water was a bit of a challenge at this location due to the depth of the stream channel, but the Paraguayans were up to the challenge and we had no problem.

The well seems to be a good producer, with a flow rate of almost 10 gallons per minute.  As we were cleaning the well the locals were already coming by to get the water for doing laundry, cooking and other household use.  We always try to explain that the water has not yet been lab tested, etc., but the water is clear and is better than creek water, or some of the hand dug wells they have access to so they don't seem to be dissuaded from using it.

As always, we devoted a good bit of the work to sanitation facilities as well.  Partially built bathrooms at the church (done during the initial church construction) were completed and plumbed in, spigots were provided to the neighbor who donated the land for the church and in front of the church for public use, and a bathroom and a kitchen were installed at the Pastor's house.

For those who want to read about the technical details of the well, click here.