Want to learn more about our mission to provide clean water? Whether you’re a long-time supporter or brand new to our organization, you might find these answers helpful to understanding how we work.

How much does a well cost?
The cost of a well project is probably our most popular question! The cost varies depending on the location of the well and factors such as the cost of labor, depth of the water table, type of soil, etc. Costs can range from around $3,000 for a well in Guatemala to $10,000 or more for a well in Kenya or Tanzania, with price points in between. Learn more details here.

How much of my donation goes to wells and how much to administrative costs?
100% of your donation goes directly to funding well projects. Yes, that’s right—the entire amount! We are 100% run by volunteers and don’t have any paid staff, office space rental, overhead or travel costs (board members pay for their own travel to well sites). That means your entire donation benefits clean water. 

Can we donate a well in someone's honor? Can we place a plaque at a well in someone's memory?
Donating a well in someone’s honor is a touching and long-lasting gift, and we are more than happy to help facilitate such a loving gesture. In some cases we have arranged for a memorial plaque to be installed in a nearby building or on the well itself. Other times, it’s more meaningful for the donor to have a photograph of the people who are using the donated well. We are happy to talk you through the possibilities!

Can I travel to a well site that I help fund?
In many cases, yes, we can help donors identify the community and contact individuals where their sponsored well was constructed. We do not make travel arrangements or fund travel.

Does the Living Water Project work only with churches or specific denominations?
No. We have found that working with church entities tends to yield the best results because that’s often the “hub” around which many rural villages are organized, but we don’t have prerequisites of belief before we partner with a group. That said, there is an undeniable spiritual aspect to our mission, and those of us on the Board of Directors are dedicated to this work because of our love for Jesus Christ. We believe that the dual message of bringing physical and spiritual “living water” to a village is the essence of the Gospel.

Do you partner with organizations that perform WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) training?
Yes, we do from time to time! Many different aid groups worldwide participate in WASH training, which helps improve water and sanitation services and teaches good hand hygiene practices and other important disinfecting guidelines. We have often partnered with organizations that perform such training in places where new wells are installed, and we’ve found that it is a good investment in increasing access to safe and clean water.

In which countries have you funded well projects?
We have funded over 1,000 clean water projects in 27 different countries. Check out the full list of countries here—and check back soon, since the totals are always increasing, thanks to our generous donors!

You don’t currently work in the country of _____.  Would you consider a project there?
We try never to say no to the possibility of water projects in new places, but the wish lists are long for our pre-existing partnerships! However, even if we’re not working in a certain country at the moment, we can sometimes connect you to similar organizations already working on well projects in those countries. 

What are the different types of well projects that you do?
Our projects are wells, spring boxes and catchment systems.

A well is our first choice and generally the least expensive option, but it’s not always a viable solution for some villages. Sometimes wells are too costly or too difficult to drill because of the terrain and other factors. We’ve learned the hard way that there’s not always abundant, accessible water underground, even after drilling through solid rock for 1,000 feet! Also, an electric pump must be used to draw water up from that far below ground, and electricity is not always available in the locations that desperately need clean water.

Our next most common project is the spring box. It’s as simple as it sounds—it’s a concrete box engineered to allow water to be taken from a spring right where it comes out of the ground. The box protects the water from being contaminated, ensuring the water is almost as clean as well water. We’ve done several of these projects in the mountains of Central America.

The third option is a water catchment system, which is also called a rain harvesting system. This solution uses gutters to catch rainfall from a roof into a large tank. This is very effective at schools, medical clinics and hospitals in locations with a distinct rainy and dry season, helping villages to store as much water as possible when rainfall is plentiful. We recently partnered with Exile International to fund a catchment system at the Pinson School in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

What are the prerequisites for obtaining a water system in a certain location?
One of our prerequisites is that the village must form a water committee, often composed of at least 50% representation by women (because women and girls are almost always responsible for carrying water back to their families). It should be an apolitical group with representation by the true users of the well—not just the village chief or town councilperson, for instance. We want these committees to feel empowered to bring about the success of the water project in their own communities. That’s why we ask them to assist in concrete ways with the project, such as collecting money for well maintenance, providing meals for the drillers or other hands-on tasks.

How do you make sure a well is properly maintained?
Spring box systems are designed to last for 50 years, and well pumps generally last 10 or more years. But like all mechanical systems, these parts do have a finite life span. We have returned to fund maintenance and rehabilitation programs in several areas where we have funded wells in the past. For example, we have drilled more than 50 wells in Chad over the past four years, and have now begun an effort for our Chadian on-ground partner to visit each and perform any needed maintenance. In other situations, villages pay for and perform the repairs themselves. If a well pump or other part breaks, the water committee either uses their collected funds to fix the well, or they contact our partners in those countries who did the initial work, and those partners contact us.

Do you help with Bible distribution?
We are a different, unaffiliated group. If you are looking for the “Living Water Project” ministry that distributes Bibles and gospel of John study guides, you can reach them here.

Do you train ministers?
That’s not us either! If you are looking for the ministry that trains evangelists, you can reach them here.

Contact the Living Water Project for more information, to receive a copy of our grant application and selection process details, or with any other questions.