Re-Aquifying
the Village of Topala
Amount Needed: $5,415

Amount Donated: $1,645

Amount WON from the SPA Grant: $3,770

TO GO: $0


(Updated October 4, 2004)
A United States Peace Corps Partnership Project
Why Donate?
The Budget
Why Topala?
The whole project
What's so bad about Topala's water?
Click here to email Seanne with questions
WE DID IT!
WE'RE FULLY FUNDED!

Through your kind donations and a grant from the Peace Corps Small Projects Assistance Fund (SPA) - We've got all the money needed to finance our project.  Updates are coming soon as the first dollars are spent.
Thank you so much for your donations - check back soon to see the progress.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
    
With your help, after five long years, the parents and grandparents of Topala will have clean, running water for their children to drink and wash in, the medical clinic will have running water to wash out wounds, 40 homes will have clear water to cook with, and an additional 200 homes will FINALLY have the opportunity to have running water.  The 1,100 person agrarian village of Topala, located in the southwest corner of the former Soviet state of Moldova, lost running water in 1999 when the main water pump broke and was never repaired.  Since that time, rust has corroded some of the underground pipes and the base of the main reservoir tower.   Additionally, the village has expanded southwest; new homes now stand where there once was only grazing land.  A maze of subterranean pipes still connects parts of Topala but without a new power sub-station, pump, and repairs/replacement/installation of pipes, the clean, fresh water far below the rocky surface, can't be used.
     Without running water, residents have made due with what they had: shallowly dug wells. These wells, dug to a depth above the natural purifying aquifer (which would have removed many pollutants), contain everything from bacteria and microorganisms to heavy metals and fertilizers.  Everyone drinks from these contaminated wells.  The medical clinic has been boiling the well water to achieve some semblance of hygiene when water is called for cleansing or drinking.  And schoolchildren, when they remember, shoddily wash their post-restroom-break hands with buckets of the same well water that they drank with their lunches.
     The
Re-Aquifying of Topala will provide a better quality of drinking water to the schoolchildren, make clean running water immediately available for 40 families, offer the opportunity of running water for the 160 houses to the south west of Topala, increase hygiene levels at the school and medical clinic and within the group that participates in free hand washing seminars, and overall, make Topala a better place to live.
     To achieve these goals, repair must be made on existing pipes and reservoir #1; a new electrical transformer and water pump must be installed; new pipes need to be laid between reservoir #2 and the school and the medical clinic; new pipes must be laid between reservoir #1 and the south west edge of town; new sinks and fixtures must be put into the school and clinic; and finally, hygiene seminars focused on handwashing need to be taught and attended.
     Following these steps, in a 4-month period, the medical clinic and school, which together serve the ENTIRE VILLAGE, will have clean, running water.   Additionally, 40 homes along the main pipeline will also be able to just turn on a faucet to get water for cooking and bathing.  Another 160 homes located near the 2nd pipeline will be able to connect to the water for a small fee wihin the month -- and finally, an additional 40 homes will finally have a water pipeline close enough to begin planning their connections.
     While the project is being implemented, monthly meetings of the Water Steering Committee, comprised of community leaders from the church, mayor's office, the local non-governmental aid organization "Viitorul Topalei", Peace Corps volunteer Seanne Hanke and others, will ensure both timeliness of project completion and financial appropriateness.

Thank you for your time,
Sincerely,
Seanne Hanke - Peace Corps Volunteer - Moldova
and the citizens of Topala
Although this project is supported by the Peace Corps, this is not an official Peace Corps or US government website.  The links to donations, however, are to the official Peace Corps website and all transactions done through that website are secure.
Who is Seanne Hanke, anyway???