Wells pumping · Karamoja and Teso, Uganda
412
wells pumping water at their last inspection
We have drilled or rebuilt 438 wells since 2003. Our Ugandan mechanics visit every one of them twice a year, and when one breaks they are usually there within a week.
- under repair this month
- 26
- people within a 15-minute walk
- 171,000
- Ugandan drillers and mechanics on staff
- 54
Inspection round closed September 30, 2026
Why we count this way
A broken pump is worse than no pump at all
Across East Africa, roughly one hand pump in three stops working within a few years of being installed. The village has been told it has water. The donor has a photo. The women walk back to the river.
Clyde Wofford spent forty years on Permian Basin rigs and saw the same thing happen on his first trip to Moroto in 2003. So Deep Well was built backwards: mechanics first, spare parts second, new drilling only when we can promise to maintain what we drill.
How it works
What happens when a pump breaks
The average repair takes six days from the phone call to water.
Step 1: The committee calls
Every well has a printed number painted on the stand. The water committee chair calls our Moroto office.
Step 2: A mechanic drives out
One of 31 motorbike mechanics, each covering about fourteen wells, diagnoses it on site.
Step 3: Parts from the store
Rods, cylinders and seals come from our Moroto parts store, stocked from the Lubbock yard by sea container.
Step 4: Water again
The mechanic logs the repair, the committee signs, and the record goes up on the well list.
Year on year
Fewer new wells, more working ones
We drilled less this year on purpose and put the money into mechanics.
Fiscal years ending June 30
| Measure | 2024–25 | 2025–26 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wells pumping at last inspection | 371 | 412 | +11% |
| New boreholes drilled | 22 | 14 | −36% |
| Repairs completed | 214 | 268 | +25% |
| Average days from call to water | 11 | 6 | −45% |
| Ugandan staff | 43 | 54 | +26% |
Inspection data from our mechanics' logs, checked by an independent auditor from Kampala each February.
The Lubbock yard
Four acres off East 50th Street
Every pump rod, cylinder and drill bit that goes to Uganda passes through a fenced yard in East Lubbock. Retired drillers, welders and a lot of church youth groups sort, test, paint and pack it.
Twice a year we fill a forty-foot sea container. It takes about eleven weeks to reach Moroto by way of Mombasa.
- Saturday yard day, 8 AM to noon
- Bring work gloves; we have the rest
- Ages 12 and up with a parent
- Lunch from Abuelita's on the last Saturday
At the pump
Before, when the pump broke we waited one year. Now I call Peter and he is here on Thursday. The women do not go back to the river.
$85 keeps one well pumping for a year
That pays for two inspections, seals and the mechanic's fuel.