Vanuatu Spotlight

Mbuembue Water Access

Social Impact Update:

The villages of Mbuembue and Wampi in a remote region of Vanuatu haven’t had consistent access to fresh drinking water in living memory. Water and sanitation is the number one priority for these communities, and now, with the support of Co-Ground, they have come together to solve it.

Sustainable water source
impacting 200+ people

Co-Ground supports grassroots community-led projects in the Asia-Pacific, and Vanuatu is where it all began. Since 2015, our locally-led model continues to support the empowerment of local people and communities, who come together to improve social outcomes.

This project involves connecting both Mbuembue and Wampi villages to a sustainable water source located 4km within the inland mountain range located behind them, impacting over 200 people.

Community Wins

Fresh running water was successfully connected to both villages through a significant community-led effort. 

This not only provides a sustainable source of safe drinking water, but immediately improves health and sanitation outcomes for years to come.

Until now, water has been a daily struggle. Families have either boiled well-water that contains a high concentration of salt due to its proximity to the coast, or used stagnant pools known as ‘swamp water’ where cattle frequently visit. A rain water tank in each village meant that water needed to be hand carried back to households and was never enough to service the entire population, or accessible year round.

By connecting a strong supply of clean water directly to households this provides easy access for cleaning, cooking and all household needs. This has positively impacting hygiene and health for all people young and old, but especially those with disability or mobility issues.

Some might call it a sign, others ironic (being that this is a water project), but the rain did not stop during the main work period of this project. This made the regular mountain trek through thick forest especially slippery and at times treacherous. This may have slowed down progress, but did not dampen morale.
”Yumi never give up” was a running mantra throughout this stage in the project, whereby 4km of piping was hauled through the dense mountain range and connected in 100m increments. 

Further down the mountain range, a cement foundation was built in the subsistence farming area directly above both villages, where the pipeline was connected to a small overflow tank acting as a filtration system. From here, the water flows to a 10,000 litre storage tank, then the pipeline splits and runs down into the two communities, finally ending at taps within various households.

Learning from past challenges

Vanuatu experiences regular cyclones and extreme weather that is only intensifying with the effects of climate change. Years prior to this project, another well known organisation had attempted to connect water to Mbuembue and Wampi villages. That project failed when flooded river beds destroyed the previous pipeline running through it.

As a way of mitigating the risk for this project, the community decided to install four new river crossings and cut a new path through the dense forest mountain range, avoiding riverbeds where possible. This allows for safe passage from the fresh water source to the community.

Community Owned Project

In a town hall style meeting, the Community Water Committee held a forum to decide on how to best protect and maintain this new community asset. This led to an agreed Water Management Plan, where everyone agreed to play their part in ensuring the ongoing flow of fresh water.

Project Sustainability

The community Water Management Plan includes community members taking it in turns to trek back to the water source every month to clean the catchment, that gardens (producing food) cannot be planted any closer than 1.5m to the pipeline to prevent damage from bush knives and should damage occur that person must immediately alert the committee to repair.

The committee will keep an agreed level of supplies on hand and replace items as needed for repairs, each household agreeing to pay a small monthly water tax (roughly AUD $3.00) to pay for committee materials.

What’s Next - Stage 2

While a strong supply of fresh water is now flowing and Stage 1 has been successfully completed, there is more work on the horizon in 2024. As decided by the Community Water Committee, with support of the Vanuatu Co-Ground team.

Stage 2 includes:

  • 20 new water taps are to be installed, bringing the total to 30, one at each household and at 4 public locations.

  • 2 additional cement foundations and 2 water storage tanks are to be installed, 1 in each village to ensure the steady flow of water year round.

  • Sugarcane is to be planted along the pipeline within each village and through the subsistence garden area to identify where the pipeline is buried and prevent damage from bush knives.

  • Final work on the four new river crossings will include cement footing and further bracing.

  • The Community Water Committee will continue working with the Vanuatu Rural Water Board to protect and maintain this new community asset.

Congratulations to the Co-Ground team in Vanuatu and the people of Mbuembue and Wampi for the incredible community effort.

Here are some photos from a celebration ceremony held at the end of Stage 1 of this project. In a beautiful display of recognition, key people were thanked for their ongoing work to improve the lives of local communities, now and for years to come.