The community of Gagnick Mack now has a fully installed solar water pumping system! Members of the new agricultural cooperative in the village are thrilled to have access to clean water and are very appreciative of CREATE!’s role in this effort to provide water for Gagnick Mack. Women celebrated the pump installation with joyous singing and dancing!
CREATE! field technicians worked with volunteers from the community to install the solar powered pump in Gagnick Mack’s rehabilitated well. Adjacent solar panels pump water from the well to an elevated 5000-liter storage tank. Gravity then conducts the water through almost 1,000 feet of piping to aboveground concrete basins in the Gagnick Mack garden site. Prior to the installation of this pump, women were filling the basins by hand using buckets.
The Gagnick Mack garden cooperative is currently growing turnips, eggplants, peppers, African eggplants, okra, lettuce, and tomatoes in their garden site. In October, they harvested 270 pounds of okra and 12 pounds of eggplants. With the pumping system in place, cooperative members can now easily gather water from basins located throughout the garden site. With easier access to water, the Gagnick Mack garden cooperative will be able to greatly increase their vegetable production!