Progress, Perseverance, and Prayer: What’s Next in the Fight for Clean Water in Kasten
What started as medical mission outreach years ago quickly became a partnership when the great needs of the people of Kasten became clear. Because of your generosity and compassion, we have been able to walk alongside the people of Kasten as they work to overcome one of the most basic and urgent challenges of life: finding safe water for their families.
Thank you for caring so deeply about the people of Kasten and for recognizing the tremendous burden that water, or the lack of it, places on families there every single day. We want to share the most complete update we have to date on the water situation in Kasten.
The Reality of Water Scarcity
Water scarcity is the most pressing challenge facing households in Kasten. Our area of impact covers approximately a five-kilometer (3.1 miles) radius, and has experienced severe drought conditions for more than 30 years. Drought occurs approximately every three to four years, with extreme droughts every five to six years. It is remarkable that people are able to continue living and raising families in such a difficult environment, but Kasten is the ancestral land of the Kamba people. This is home.
Within the 11 villages that make up Kasten, we have identified approximately 420 households, representing nearly 2,000 people. These families rely heavily on seasonal rivers and unpredictable rainfall. The area typically receives only one short rainy season each year. When the rains do come, families work hard to capture and save as much water as possible.
Many households depend on rainwater runoff collected in the current Kithumula B water pan (think retention pond or reservoir). Unfortunately, this water is untreated and uncovered. Both wild and domestic animals have access to it for bathing and drinking, leaving the water contaminated and unsafe for human consumption. Yet, for many families, there is no other choice.
People collect this precious water in five-gallon jerry cans and carry it by hand or transport it by bicycle or on the backs of donkeys to their homes. Imagine having to make that journey simply to provide your family with enough water to drink, cook, wash, and survive every single day.
The consequences are serious. Bacterial contamination contributes to waterborne illness and other health problems, while limited access to clean water also contributes to dehydration and malnutrition.
The nearest borehole is nearly four miles from the area we serve, simply too far for most families to walk to regularly to collect the water they need (that’s how far walking from the capitol building in downtown Boise to the airport is).
What We Have Been Able to Accomplish
Improving access to safe water has been an important part of our health interventions in Kasten. Our first contribution to providing water for the community was to provide the local Nazarene Church with a large 10,000-liter water tank in the year 2016, and a second tank in 2017.
In 2023, we successfully desilted the community’s water pan, a large, man-made catchment area similar to a pond. This important project increased its water storage capacity, allowing the community to capture and make better use of the precious water collected during the rainy season.
Then, in 2024, we expanded our efforts in Kathuri and Kiruini villages by providing 65 households across these two villages with 5,000liter (1.32 gallon) water storage tanks, roof gutters, and water filters. These families are now able to capture rainwater from their roofs, store it safely, and filter it for household use.
That may sound like a relatively simple solution, but for a family accustomed to walking long distances for contaminated water, it can be life-changing.
In 2025, an exploratory assessment was conducted to test whether the low-cost Village Drill could expand water access in Kasten. Our goal was to find a cost-effective, manual drilling solution for the community. However, the assessment revealed that the local groundwater conditions are incompatible with this equipment.
The main challenge is the depth of the regional water table. The Village Drill is designed for shallow to medium aquifers, with a maximum depth capacity of 100 meters. In Kasten, however, water lies much deeper. Local geological data shows that reaching a reliable, long-term water source requires drilling past 200 meters, more than double the Village Drill's capacity.
As a result, we will not be moving forward with the Village Drill in this location. To ensure a dependable water supply for Kasten, future efforts will utilize heavy-duty, mechanized rotary rigs equipped to drill past the 200-meter mark.
Our Search for Groundwater
We are currently pursuing a reliable source of groundwater that could transform the entire community. After a significant amount of donations came in from people like you in 2025, earlier this year we began exploring potential locations for drilling a borehole (a type of well) that could provide clean water throughout the year.
Our hope was that a successful borehole would dramatically reduce Kasten’s dependence on seasonal rainfall and provide a sustainable source of safe water. Unfortunately, our first hydrological survey did not produce the amount of water needed to meet the needs of the community. However, we have not given up.
Another hydrological company is currently conducting additional investigations. We will continue searching until every reasonable resource has been exhausted, or until we tap into the flowing water deep beneath the surface of Kasten.
We would be so grateful for your prayers as we continue searching for a solution to the water crisis in Kasten. Please pray that the next survey will identify a viable source of groundwater, that the necessary resources will become available, and that we will have the wisdom and perseverance to see this effort through.
Looking Ahead
There is still much to do.
Our hope is to see a successful borehole drilled and operating. We also want to enlarge and desilt (remove built up layers of mud, silt, debris, etc.) the current water pan to increase its capacity, particularly for livestock.
We want to encourage households to construct personal water pans on their own property so families can capture and store additional rainwater. We also want each family to have a personal pit latrine, helping keep human waste away from household water sources and reducing the risk of contamination.
Lastly, we hope to eventually provide the remaining 355 households in Kasten with water storage tanks, roof gutters, and water filtration systems, expanding access to safer and more sustainable water sources throughout all 11 Kasten villages.
Our One-Year Objectives
Over the next year, our goals include:
Drilling a suitable borehole with enough capacity to meet the needs of Kasten.
Distributing water filters to 40 additional households.
Enlarging and desilting the current water pan.
Ensuring that personal water pans in two villages are dug and properly lined.
Encouraging and supporting the construction of personal pit latrines.
Our five-year vision is even bigger:
Provide water tanks and roof gutters to households throughout all 11 Kasten villages.
Develop piping to carry water from a successful borehole to each village.
Ensure that personal water pans and pit latrines are dug and properly lined throughout all of Kasten.
These goals will take time, resources, perseverance, and people who believe that the families of Kasten are worth investing in. Thank you for being one of those people.
When you care about water in Kasten, you are caring about much more than water. You are caring about the health of vulnerable people. You are caring about families who should not have to choose between drinking contaminated water and going without. You are caring about farmers trying to grow food in an increasingly unpredictable climate. And you are helping create the possibility of a healthier and more hopeful future for an entire community.
We are deeply grateful that you have chosen to care about Kasten with us. Please continue to pray with us, both for water which is desperately needed beneath the ground and the Living Water that brings true hope, restoration, and life.
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