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#05-280 December 26, 2005

DNR hydrologist drills for clean water in Sudan

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Clean drinking water is something residents of South Carolina tend to take for granted, but it is estimated that 1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water. Contaminated water accounts for 80 percent of all diseases in the developing world and claims the lives of five million children a year. A hydrologist with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is determined to do something about it. He works for DNR to collect hydrologic, geologic, and water-quality data and monitor the availability of surface water and ground water.

Lee Mitchell (L) and JamesLee Mitchell, who lives in Mauldin and works out of the DNR Clemson office, prefers the title of hydro-geologist and recently returned from his fourth trip to Africa and his second to drill for water. He undertook the task on his own time and without funding from DNR. This was Mitchell's first trip as a consultant with Hydromissions International, a Christian missionary group dedicated to bringing clean drinking water to those in need around the world. Hydromissions has served everywhere from China to Tanzania. The group was partnered with Branches to Sudan, two Anglican churches in the Jacksonville, Florida area that are working to ease the suffering of Sudan.

Find out more about Hydromissions at http://www.hydromissions.com/Index.htm and more about Branches to Sudan at http://www.branchestosudan.org/.

Mitchell and the group first touched down in Nairobi, Kenya in late November and were then able to charter a small plane into south central Sudan. Daytime maximum temperatures ranged anywhere from 95 to 105 degrees down to a low of 66 degrees at night. They also faced a constant struggle against dehydration. He lost twenty pounds on the trip.

Mitchell said the area they visited is so remote that he had trouble finding a topographic map. "But the entire village turned out to greet us on our arrival. They fed us much better than they ever eat themselves, although I have to admit I got tired of goat, rooster and rice."

They eventually ran out of their own bottled water they brought with them on the chartered flight and soon their filters began to clog up from the muddy river water, according to Mitchell, "We treated our water with iodine. We also used powdered Gatorade that we brought with us, because we needed to replenish the lost salts, but I don't know if I'll be able to drink Gatorade again. It was Gatorade-flavored mud water."

Women walking with bucketsHe said the walk to the nearest water source was around two miles, "Thankfully we only walked there one time, but it just about did me in with heat exhaustion. The ladies there do it all day long, carrying water buckets on their heads."

Sudan has suffered through a series of civil wars since the early 1970's. A separate conflict broke out in the western region of Darfur in 2003, which resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and over one million displaced. "This was the safest that I ever felt in my trips to Africa," continued Mitchell, "We were always with locals who knew members of our party and besides, we were many miles from the worst violence in the region." Sudan is slightly more than one-quarter the size of the U.S.

Chronic instability as a result of the long-standing civil war between the Muslim north and the Christian/pagan south along with soil erosion; desertification; periodic drought and weak world agricultural prices ensure that much of the population will remain at or below the poverty line for years. The average life expectancy in Sudan is just below 60-years of age. The infant mortality rate of 62.5 per 1000 live births is almost ten times that of the United States.

The group drilled three wells, but never struck water. Still, Mitchell doesn't believe the mission was a failure, "We left the people with drilling equipment and they now know how to use it and will continue on their own."

The reward of helping others was not without some hardships for Mitchell, "The toughest part was leaving my son, daughter and wife back in Mauldin."

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