Two thirds of the country of Mauritania, located in the Sahel region of West Africa, is classified as desert with many communities living in remote, off-the-grid regions. Starvation is a regular threat to areas compromised by poor distribution of rainfall. This results in high food and trade prices leaving already vulnerable families with a lack of resources to meet their basic nutritional needs.
Almost 3,000 miles away, the country of Turkey sits between two continents – Europe and Asia. This mountainous peninsula has two main fault zones making it one of the most seismically active in the world. On February 6, one of their most powerful earthquakes shook southern Turkey and, with continuing aftershocks, left major devastation in its wake. Thousands of displaced Syrians are living in this region as refugees.
What do millions in both of these countries, located so far from one another and so diverse in culture, have in common? They lack access to the most basic necessity of life – safe drinking water.
Water Mission is working to change this reality. In response to the earthquakes in Turkey, this Christian engineering nonprofit installed disaster-response water systems that are serving the refugee populations with safe drinking water. SonSet Solutions is providing SonSetLink® technology, adding an important dynamic to these relief efforts – water monitoring. With boots on the ground, Water Mission is finishing the installation of SonSetLink units on 16 of these water systems. So far, about 50,000 people now have safe drinking water.
In Mauritania, Water Mission installed SonSetLink units in very remote parts of the country on existing solar-powered well pumps that are serving approximately 20,000 people with safe drinking water.
Monitoring is a vital link, allowing us to make sure the safe water doesn’t stop and providing on-site ministries with the credibility they need to represent the One who ensures we never have to thirst again.
By Erica Simone, May 2023