Renovating dugouts to provide a sustainable water supply in Ghana
In remote regions of Ghana year round streams are rare and ground water is often inaccessible, so communities collect rainwater in dugouts but these are now drying out for several months at a time due to climate change. We are helping to resolve this problem by expanding & rehabilitating three dugouts to ensure villagers have a sustainable source of clean drinking water.
Scroll down for Key Project Facts, About our Ghana Project, Photos and Project News.
Key Programme Facts
Three renovated
dugouts
Providing a year-round
water supply and supporting female led water businesses at the dugouts.
Sustainable Development Goals
Supporting SDG 6 (water),
SDG 4 (education) and
SDG 1 (poverty)
Community
Support
Supported by our local
NGO partner –
Saha Global
About our Ghana programme
In 2022/23 we funded our new partner in Ghana, Saha Global to set up 22 small water treatment businesses run by local women, to supply clean water collected from dugouts to remote rural villages surrounding Dambai and Krachi. The project was a great success but we learnt from Saha Global that in recent years the dugouts had been running dry for several months a year due to climate change. This resulted in villagers, especially women & young girls walking very long distances to find often un-safe water, disrupting their education and work.
In 2024 we therefore supported Saha Global with funding for a pilot project to undertake their first ever renovation of a dugout in the village of Sinsina. Following the success of this project, in 2025 we completed works on a new dugout in the village of Tacpuli and in March 2026 we completed a new dugout in Kanjiyili – find out more below.
Our work in Ghana supports a number of different Sustainable Development Goals. Women and children will not have to walk far distances to alternative sources of water, allowing children to stay in school and women to focus on other important activities (SDG 4 – Quality Education and SDG 1 – No Poverty). This project also represents a significant step in building climate change resilience for villages and communities reliant on dugouts.
About the dugouts:
All the dugouts we are renovating are linked to small water treatment centres run by local women supplying clean drinking water to the village residents.
** Our third dugout in Kanjiyili will be our final project in Ghana as WaterHarvest is closing in 2027, our 40th Anniversary year. Although this is sad news, our anniversary feels like an appropriate milestone to bring the charity to a close and we have much to celebrate from our four decades of rainwater harvesting. Find out more here **
Sinsina
Tacpuli
In August 2024 we completed a new pilot project with Saha Global, funding the expansion and rehabilitation of a large water dugout supplying clean drinking water to the 466 people living in Sinsina, in the North Gonja District.
In July 2025 we completed works on our second dugout in the Tacpuli community located in the North-East Gonja District with a population of 963 residents.
The renovation works took place over several months, resulting in a deeper dugout three times its original size! Vetiver grass & trees have also been planted around the dugout to reduce evaporation during the dry season.
Having the dugout expanded means that Naana pictured above, who co-runs the water treatment centre at Sinsina can now supply clean drinking water to the village residents all year round.
We started work on Tacpuli’s dugout in January 2025, replicating the approach taken with Sinsina to deepen the dugout. With the support of members of the local community, the works progressed far quicker than planned which is wonderful news!
The planting of vetiver grass around the dugout had to wait until the rains commenced to ensure their initial growth. By the end of July 2025 the project was complete.
Photos from Sinsina:
Photos from Tacpuli:
Kanjiyili
In November 2025, we commenced work on our third dugout with Saha Global in Kanjiyili, a small rural village in the North-East Gonja District, home to 221 people. Its only source of water—a seasonal dugout—dries up each year around March, leaving the community without local water access for an average of four months.
Engineering research for this project unexpectedly highlighted that the existing dugout in Kanjiyili is positioned away from the intake of rainwater runoff. Redirecting this water source would be more costly than creating a new dugout at a position that will naturally collect water. As such rather than renovating an existing dugout (as with Sinsina and Tacpuli), works at Kanjiyili focused on creating a new dugout. With the support of the local community, this new dugout was completed in March 2026.
Programme News
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WaterHarvest to close in 2027
This is an important update from the Chair of WaterHarvest’s Board of Trustees, Fiona Beukes: Like other UK charities, WaterHarvest has a Board of Trustees (the Board) who act as the governing body, with legal and financial responsibility for the charity. The Board determines strategic direction, with operational leadership of the charity delegated to the…
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Our third dugout is complete in Ghana
With the support of the local community, our new dugout in Kanjiyili completed in March 2026. Kanjiyili is a small rural village in the North-East Gonja District, home to 221 people. Its only source of water—a seasonal dugout—dries up each year around March, leaving the community without local water access for an average of four…
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Our Annual Review for 2024/25
We are pleased to share our latest Annual Review for April 2024 – March 2025. We report much success with our on-going rainwater harvesting programmes in Uganda, Ghana and our final programme in India. We continue to work in remote locations, where climate change greatly affects communities still lacking access to a source of clean water close to their homes or schools.…
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We complete our dugout project in Tacpuli, Ghana
In remote regions of Ghana year round streams are rare and ground water is often inaccessible, so communities collect rainwater in dugouts but these are now drying out for several months at a time due to climate change. This means villagers, especially women and young girls have to walk very long distances to find often…
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Dugout success in Sinsina,Ghana
We are so happy to share the news that following our renovation works, the dugout in Sinsina which is usually dry this time of year, is full of water! In remote regions of Ghana year round steams are rare and ground water is often inaccessible, so communities collect rainwater in dugouts but these are now…
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Our new Annual Review!
We are delighted to share our latest Annual Review for the previous financial year, April 2023 – March 2024. During the year we delivered four rainwater harvesting programmes in India. We also commenced a new programme in Uganda with our local partner ‘Masaka District Land Care Chapter’ (MADLACC) and a pilot programme in Ghana with our local partner Saha…
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Video from our dugout project in Ghana!
We are proud to have supported our local partner Saha Global to expand and rehabilitate a large water dugout close to the village of Sinsina. Works completed in August 2024 and we’re excited to share a video featuring interviews with Sinsina residents – watch below! The dugout in Sinsina is linked to a small water…
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Why we harvest rainwater
Many people ask us why at WaterHarvest, we harvest rainwater and why we don’t dig wells, sink boreholes or invest in piped water. The answer is that we believe that small scale rainwater harvesting structures are the best solution for families in the remote, arid and semi-arid areas that we work in. The reasons behind…
