Suzia Water Source

The Suzia Water Source

Another update from Covenant Missionary Pete Ekstrand on progress of the Water Project through Covenant Kids Congo.

Suzia is the name of the spring at the base of IPOK hill, past what used to be missionary housing. This is the original spring that was capped in the early 1960s to serve IPOK, which is a neighborhood on the outskirts of Gemena.  Dave Swanson of Bethlehem Covenant, and Marv Bjorlin of Excelsior Covenant, came to Congo in February/March 1984 to redo the water system.  They had raised money to ship a container of pipe and other supplies.  Pete recalls working with them on the capping of the spring back then.

The spring will continue to serve the residents of IPOK.  Frank is the World Vision technician working on the project.  He is from Goma in Eastern Congo.  He is an expert in water systems and has made an impression on the local staff with his extensive knowledge.

Notice the three main springs that were capped at the top.

A new cistern is being built which will hold 40 m3 or about 11,000 gallons!  The walls were poured early last week.  This week they will start pouring to form the top.

The cistern serves as a reservoir to give adequate pressure to the distribution system when there is a lot of demand downhill.  This cistern is located above the top group of houses where school directors live.  From the cistern the water will go downhill to distribution points at this top group of houses, the group of teacher’s houses, downhill towards the CEUM church and all the way down to the health center near the bridge of the Mombonga river.

Frank estimates the spring will now produce 31 gallons per minute of beautiful clean water!

The Covenant Church has committed to this region of Congo for decades, and now Covenant Kids Congo has the privilege of building upon all the hard work of those that have come before us.  This was made possible by your faithful support – THANK YOU. Celebrate with us this great progress, and spread the good news to your friends and churches!