Frequently Asked Questions

Water for South Sudan provides clean, safe water to communities while empowering locals to manage and maintain their own wells. Through sustainable water solutions and community leadership programs, we help families thrive and build a healthier, more stable future.

Water for South Sudan works in remote and hard-to-reach regions where limited infrastructure, seasonal access, and evolving local conditions can affect project timelines. Ensuring long-term maintenance of wells and empowering communities—especially women—to manage water systems also requires ongoing support and education. Despite these obstacles, WFSS works to provide sustainable, life-changing access to clean water.

WFSS mainly drills in rural villages in the Bahr el Ghazal region of South Sudan. 

Additionally, WFSS has also completed projects in the following areas:

• States: Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Jongolei, Lake State, Unity, Upper Nile, Warrap, and Western Equatoria

• Administration Areas: Abyei, Pibor, and Reweng

WFSS is supported by donors from all 50 states and 77 other countries: individuals, schools, faith-based groups, family foundations, and civic organizations. WFSS does not receive funding from the US or South Sudan governments.

Since 2003, supporters have contributed more than $23 million to support clean water projects in South Sudan.

• Program Expenses percentage for fiscal year 2024: 74.4%

• Overhead Percentage for fiscal year 2024: 25.6%.

U.S. goals: raise funds to support the work being implemented by the local South Sudan team through individual, school, and foundational support and share the work being implemented by the South Sudan team with supporters via email, web, and social media.

South Sudan goals: implement solutions for sustainable access to clean water:

• new well drilling

• well rehabilitation

• solar-powered water storage and distribution systems

• latrine construction and repair

• hygiene awareness

• train local community members to manage their own water supply

• empower communities to sustain their water source for years to come

• grow local employment opportunities.

Additionally, the South Sudan team has created the Water Institute, a non-governmental training institute focused on developing workforce capacity in the water sector—a key priority for South Sudan’s transition to a secure water future. Water Institute training programs include:

• Water Quality for Climate Adaptation

• Low-Cost Technologies for Rural Water Supply - Fabrication (of materials to construct rope pumps for household use) and Manual Drilling

• Didactic Training (best practices in teaching methodology and approach)

• Sanitation, Hygiene and Household Water Treatment

• Water for Agriculture

One of the most important strategies is working with local people in South Sudan. WFSS employees are all South Sudanese, speak the languages of the people they serve, and understand the culture of their communities. This helps shape the projects implemented in rural communities.

A Long Walk to Water has been a significant reason so many people know about Salva and Water for South Sudan. Teachers, students, and family members read the book and want to help. This has expanded awareness to a global level (likely the reason you contacted WFSS) and has made this critical work possible because of the generosity of people worldwide. We do not receive support from the US or South Sudan government. Individuals, schools, faith-based organizations, and foundations support our work—we can only do our work with the support of people like you!

• Well Drilling—more than 640 wells have been drilled in remote South Sudanese villages since 2005, providing water to more than 500,000 people.

• Well Rehabilitation—over time, the cement platform of older wells can break down, causing damage to the area surrounding the well. WFSS has rehabbed more than 450 wells since 2017. The organization also responds to requests to repair wells drilled by other organizations—this could entail repairs to the cement, replacement of broken hand pump parts, or digging deeper into the earth to reach the refillable aquifer—to bring the well back to working order.

• Hygiene Education Training—in each village where a new or rehabbed well project is conducted, four men and four women receive basic hygiene training. This training includes the topics of personal hygiene, water safety, safe disposal of human waste, and disease prevention. Additionally, we train women on basic menstrual hygiene. More than 400 hygiene training programs have been completed since 2014.

• Sanitation (toilet facilities/latrines)— Our team builds latrines over a community-maintained septic system, and communities work with local companies to manage regular septic pumping. The latrine design also includes a mandatory handwashing station outside the facility. The school ensures soap and water for handwashing are available daily. The latrine design allows for future expansion of additional toilet facilities. Child Hygiene and Sanitation Training (CHAST) is also completed as part of project implementation. Since 2018, we have constructed a latrine at the Piantok Primary School and partnered with Norwegian Church Aid and UNICEF to build emergency latrines, rehabilitate older latrines, and construct long-term latrine facilities in Upper Nile State, totaling 34 new or rehabbed latrines.

• Water Storage and Distribution— Since 2021, WFSS has constructed more than 10 water storage and distribution systems. The systems use solar-powered technology to pump water into a raised storage tank. Gravity then allows the water to flow through underground pipes to water kiosks located at the school, market center, garden, health clinic, and animal trough within the county. These systems expand the distribution of water to thousands of people instead of hundreds and decrease the wait times at the water source.

The total cost of drilling a new water well is $20,000. For more information, visit our sponsorships page.

There are natural refillable aquifers (up to 300 feet) below the earth in South Sudan. The cycle of evaporation and annual rains make the aquifer renewable.

Once WFSS determines the area of the country where work will be implemented, consultations with the Government of South Sudan, county governments, and community leaders are necessary to decide on the placement of wells. Village elders and chiefs are tasked with determining the specific location of the well to serve residents. Once drilled, wells become the property of the village, so it is vital that community leaders are involved in well placement decisions.

A standard India Mark II hand pump—the most commonly used hand pump in the world—can produce about 15 liters (4 gallons) of water per minute. If it's used consistently over a 12-hour period, that adds up to approximately 10,800 liters (or 2,880 gallons) of water in a single day.

Residents are involved at each step of the process:

• Help decide where wells will be placed,

• Prepare the ground by clearing brush and small trees to make room for our vehicles,

• Show our teams where to get the water needed to begin drilling,

• Dig two mud pits to hold the water used for drilling,

• Carry bricks and heavy bags of cement, and scoop gravel,

• Build a fence around the well to keep animals away from the water source,

• Provides a volunteer to support the team cook, and

• Identify two residents to participate in basic well maintenance and repair.

Two community members are selected to receive pump maintenance training, learning how to maintain and repair the well. This supports the long-term sustainability of the water source.

WFSS operates during the dry season—approximately December through May. During the rainy season, dirt roads in South Sudan turn to mud, and our heavy equipment cannot travel. Additionally, it’s more challenging to locate the true water source in the aquifer with heavy rains.

Yes, we test the water quality using Watersafe and Aquagenx test kits to ensure it is safe for human consumption. We test for e coli along with other contaminants.

We are currently using the “Iron Giraffe” - PAT 501 rig. PAT stands for Promotion of Appropriate Technology, and its rigs are widely used in the developing world. We continue to use our original big rig, a Deep Rock DR 150. We also have a smaller PAT 431 T. We also have a compressor that enables us to drill in rocky areas.

We use the India Mark II, the most widely used hand pump in the world.

At this time, we do not plan to expand outside of South Sudan.

Our locally-led team is aware of the current unstable areas in South Sudan. We do not work in areas where conflict is present.

To date, our team has not experienced direct conflict, nor have the wells drilled by WFSS been damaged due to violence.