Abong da Apong: Looking back--Deep wells and water tank

Water Tank and deep wells

The very first project we started is to put up a deep well water pump. We hired a local group to install deep well hand pump. One would think that a truck-mounted drilling rig would do the trick but here at Maballeguen, all it took was 4 guys with nothing more than local knowledge, guts, muscle, ropes, pulleys and cut-off tree trunk suspended from a make-shift tripod pounding those 3” 10 footer galvanized steel pipes to the ground. It took three days and 20 pipes before they hit a sweet spot where the water is clear, no smell, suitable for drinking, cooking and for general use. Below is a picture of the guys in action and the hand pump for all our water needs.

This is how a 10 foot steel pipe is put in place.

and here is the hand pump for all our water needs during the construction.

Next task is to install the water tank into a temporary water tower. Note the Tower materials are made the branches from the aroo-o tree we previously cut down for lumber. I told the tower builders not to trim those branches since this is only temporary.

prepping our water tank ready for installation

this is our temporary water tower platform.

here is our water tank in a temporary tower.

We needed an alternate source of water, so I called the deep well guys again to put up another water pump. We picked a location where a source of spring water could be tapped. This time it took only 12 of those 10 footers and still two days to tap a good water. Below is a picture of the guys in action and the water from the spring flowing without a pump. It is always dripping except during the dry season when the water table is at its lowest. Since the water from this spot is pure spring of better quality, I decided to build an electric pump house next to it and piped the water directly to the abong. Future plan is to tap this free-flowing spring water into a reservoir.

This guys has a more advanced gear

Water just oozes out from the pipe without a pump!

This is our water pump house.

Our temporary water tower has done its job and now we need to place it on permanent platform. I was seriously considering putting up a traditional steel platform tower but then I thought it would be ‘out of place’ from the native character of the abong. My project manager jokingly suggested to use those trees as platform for the water tank. I though about it and started to think the technical aspect. There is a mature narra tree on an elevated portion at the back of the property. It has a big trunk with three sturdy limbs that can support a platform for the 500 gallons tank. After discussing the plan the my construction crew, They could not believe that I was serious and even suggested to put a small “papag” (bamboo bench) and drinking table on top of the tank. In exactly 4 days, the water tank is installed complete with ladder and a bench top! Below are pictures of the water in its new platform.