BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa County – A new solar-powered water system has been dedicated at the Alive Liberia Mission Compound in Buchanan, marking a major intervention geared toward improving access to safe and clean drinking water for residents, youth groups, and religious gatherings in the area.
For years, the compound and surrounding community have struggled with inconsistent and unsafe hand pumps and unprotected water sources, a challenge highlighted in a 2024 assessment that prompted today’s intervention. The findings pointed to untreated water, serving youth programs, church gatherings, and nearby residents who often depended on unreliable water points.
Against that backdrop, Teron SY Bartuah Sr., WASH Programme Manager, explained that the intervention was carefully designed around real usage patterns, outlining the various components which include a 14-foot concrete tower, pipe network, solar submersible pumps with panels, 1,500 gallon storage capacity, protective guardrails , and an inline erosion chlorination system for treatment.
“The beneficiaries for this project will be a little over two thousand,” Bartuah said. “There is a youth gathering that normally happens twice here, and the catchment population for that youth gathering is five hundred. When combine with the community residents here, that include an old folk home, they are around two thousand plus.”
For Elijah Maina, who serves as the Regional WASH Director for the West Africa Office for Clean Water and Energy, said, the project carries both spiritual and practical meaning.
“We are here because of Jesus. Because Jesus put the love of Christ in the Daybreak Church and they were able to give us their money, their resource, their time for us to be able to have clean drinking water for the people Alive-Liberia Mission and the people of Central Buchanan,” Maina said.
But he also warned that the real success of the project will be measured over time, not at the dedication.
“We have to make sure that this project is sustainable,” he added. “The only joy we can give the Daybreak Church family is to make sure that when we come here years from now, this water should still be standing and providing safe drinking water to us.”
Ben Barco, Resident Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Grand Bassa County, commended the initiative while urging expansion to other parts of the County.
“This intervention is timely and speaks directly to a critical need in this community,” Judge Barco said. “We appreciate World Hope International and Daybreak Church for this effort, but we also encourage them and other partners to extend similar projects to other parts of Grand Bassa County where access to safe drinking water remains a serious challenge.”
For residents, the excitement was mixed with a strong call for responsibility.
Samuel Hodges, community deputy chairman urged the residents to take ownership of the facility.
“We are grateful to God for his blessing for us to have safe drinking water,” Hodges said. “But my main concern is that we all should have the mindset that this Solar Water System is for us. Let us take it as our own property. Don’t destroy it, don’t say when we spoil it, they will fix it. Take it as your own, maintain it and protect it.”
His message captured a familiar challenge across Liberia’s rural and peri-urban projects: infrastructure often succeeds at installation, but struggles with maintenance and ownership.
The water system is expected to reduce reliance on unsafe water sources and ease the burden on families in around the Alive-Liberia Mission in Central Buchanan, where waterborne diseases remain a recurring public health concern.
The initiative highlights the growing role of partnerships between humanitarian organizations and faith-based institutions in addressing basic service delivery gaps in Liberia, particularly in underserved communities.
About the Implementers
World Hope International is a non-profit Christian relief and development organization that has been working with vulnerable and underserved communities in Liberia since 1999. Our work focuses on alleviating poverty, suffering, and injustice through interventions in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)- clean water, Social Protection – anti-trafficking, health Programs, and disaster response. In Liberia, it has supported communities through borehole drilling, water system rehabilitation, and hygiene promotion aimed at reducing waterborne diseases.
On the other hand, Daybreak Church is a faith-based institution engaged in mission work and community outreach. It partners with development organizations to support clean water access, education, and social development initiatives, combining humanitarian service with faith-based engagement.
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