The residents of remote African villages will no longer have to walk for more than half an hour just to wash their clothes, take a shower or gather water for cooking, thanks to an Israeli technology helps bring water infrastructures to rural areas of the continent.
Owini, a subsidiary company of the Mitrelli Group, in collaboration with Angola's Energy and Water Ministry have recently brought accessible water infrastructures to yet another rural African village thanks to Israeli-made water purification tech, which aims to place accessible water infrastructures in a distance of no more than 100 meters from a village’s center.
As part of these projects, Owini was able to make water more accessible in more than 200 villages across Angola.
The village - Bita Tanque - which is located in the province of Luanda, the capital of city of Angola, have been suffering from irregular supplies of water for years. In fact, the locals had to walk down to the nearby river every time – a 2500m walk each direction - just to access water for showering and cooking.
After two years of infrastructural work, the residents are now able to enjoy a steady stream of pure and drinkable water, in accordance with Israeli health standards. The water is accessible through public drinking fountains scattered throughout the village, with each one containing four faucets.
The residents arrive with their containers at the fountain, fill them up with drinking water and bring them to their homes. In addition, a number of “laundries” were set up in the village as well: structures with faucets and large concrete sinks as places for the residents to bring their dirty clothes and wash by hand.
The water at Bita Tanque is sourced from one of the main streams of the large Cuanza River, running about 2.5km from it. A pumping station was built next to the river, and since the area lacks electric supply, the water is being sucked by external pumps with a diesel engine. A pipeline pushes the water to the village, where it is being purified and transferred to a storage and distribution facility. From there, utilizing the power of solar energy, the water is delivered to all the fountains and laundries in the village.