Water Wells for Africa asked DigitalGlobe to assess options for new well locations in Phalombe district, Southern Region of Malawi.
There are only three water wells in this area of Phalombe, and all are overused or in poor working condition.
Within a five kilometer radius, about 6,000 people live without a dependable water source.
Rains during the wet season cause flooding which restricts access to the wells, preventing thousands from reaching clean water.
We determined the approximate travel times to wells using a least cost path analysis. The analysis is based on the environment during wet season where travel is more difficult.
To determine new well locations, we identified suitable areas for study. These areas are close to trails, secondary roads, and populated zones of approximately 562 people per square kilometer.
We picked three potential well locations fitting Water Wells for Africa's requirement to support at least 30 households with no more than 400 households using any one water point.
Our analysis identified this site facilitating water access to more people than any other site.
A well at this location would draw local population from the north significantly relieving an already strained existing well.
This location would not greatly improve ease of accessibility while contributing the most to ease the burden on existing wells.
Based on our geospatial analysis well sites one and two appear most suitable to serve the needs of the local population. Verify the viability of these sites with a more detailed geological survey and refine their specific location.
Conduct site surveys for additional well sites in the highlighted areas, due to their proximity to population centers.
This report recommends new well locations in Phalombe, Malawi to improve clean drinking water access. DigitalGlobe used geospatial analysis on satellite imagery and topology data to identify specific locations. The results of this report were submitted to Water Wells for Africa for further consideration.
For more information on this report, please send an email to [email protected].
Water Wells for Africa (WWFA) requested a DigitalGlobe Analytics assessment to support drilling water wells in Phalombe District, Malawi.
DigitalGlobe Analytics provided two analytical products:
A geospatial well “signature” was produced using three of the four proposed sites. The school site was omitted from the analysis due to the limited access to the proposed well.
The existing wells provided by WFFA correlated fairly well with the geospatial signature of the proposed sites. Of the three existing wells, one fell completely outside of the geospatial signature while the other two wells were inside or within 50 meters of the signature.
Geospatial data were collected over a 400km2 encompassing the four proposed sites.
Environmental variables included in the analysis
Data limitations
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