We provide clean water in northern Ghana for farming villages overlooked by larger efforts.
OUR IMPACT
Since 2020, Savannah Water Project has worked with communities in northern Ghana to bring clean water to villages overlooked by larger efforts. Every well we build is tracked, maintained, and revisited.
16
Wells Built
25K+
Villages Served
90+
People with regular access to clean water
90+
years of fieldwork in northern Ghana
We don't count a well as a success the day it's drilled. We count it after the community is using it, the maintenance plan is working, and our team has come back to verify both.
Some of our completed wells are currently offline — a generator under repair in Larabanga, political disruption blocking access in Larabanga 2. We list those publicly. The people who funded these wells deserve to know where things actually stand.
Three new boreholes were completed in 2025 in the farming villages of Ngarong, Vehikuga, and Bablinga (Northern Region). Additional wells are in progress across the Savannah and Northern Regions, with five new communities scouted in July for 2026 builds.
We work in farming villages — places where most people grow what they eat, and where the dry season puts everything at risk.
Community handover, Yakpalsi, 2025. The day the well comes online is not the day we count it as a success but it's a day worth marking.
WHY WATER MATTERS
The water crisis is global. We don't pretend to be solving it. We work in one part of one country — northern Ghana — because that's where we know the ground, the people, and the obstacles.
Three things shape the water problem in the villages where we work:
01.
The Savannah, Northern, North East, Upper East, and Upper West regions experience long dry seasons. Surface water disappears. Groundwater is the only reliable option, and reaching it requires drilling.
02.
Many villages lack electricity. Roads to them are rough or seasonal. National infrastructure investment has historically concentrated in the south.
03.
Most villages we visit have a story about a well someone built and walked away from. A solar panel that broke. A pump that nobody could fix. A politician who promised water before an election and never came back.
THE GEOGRAPHY
When people say "northern Ghana," they often mean five distinct administrative regions: Savannah, Northern, North East, Upper East, and Upper West. The Savannah Region was created in 2019 when it was split from the old Northern Region. Each has its own districts, its own chiefs, its own logistics challenges.
We currently operate primarily in the West Gonja municipality of the Savannah Region, with recent expansion into the Northern Region. We work in farming villages — places where most people grow what they eat, and where the dry season puts everything at risk.
HOW WE CHOOSE WHERE TO WORK
Many villages in the Savannah are without good water options. Our team begins each campaign by identifying communities most likely to benefit from a well, weighing:
What are people drinking now? Swamp water? Stagnant pond water? A distant shared source?
How many people will the well actually serve?
Can a borehole truck reach the village? Are roads passable?
Is there buy-in? Is there a credible plan to maintain the well after we leave?
We deliberately work in villages that are harder to reach, harder to publicize, and less likely to attract larger NGOs. That's the meaning of "farthest people first."
Learn about water crisisWHY WELLS FAIL
A borehole costs us between $1,800 and $3,000 to drill. The full project — pump, platform, holding tank, community handover — typically runs $3,500 to $6,000. The drilling takes a few days. The hard part is the next ten years.
Wells fail for predictable reasons:
A pump breaks. The replacement part is expensive or hard to find. Nobody in the village has been trained to fix it. The well goes dry.
Solar setups look attractive on paper. In practice, the parts are expensive, slow to source, and a single component failure takes the whole system offline. We've moved away from solar in the areas we serve.
Local leadership changes. A new chief blocks access. A district authority shuts down a working well over a dispute that has nothing to do with water.
A well that arrives without community input often becomes nobody's responsibility.
Solutions that last beyond the ribbon-cutting.
Local ownership is the foundation of every project.
We use what’s reliable, repairable, and proven.
Stronger systems build stronger communities.
We design around these failures. Every project requires a maintenance plan and significant community input before we drill.
IMPACT LOCATIONS
Every well we've built or are building is listed below. Click any location for project details, current status, and field videos where available.
FEATURED PROJECTS
Larabanga sits at the entrance to Mole National Park, one of Ghana's biggest tourist...
Current Status: Under repair
A farming community in northern Ghana where women and children relied on unsafe ...
Current Status: In use
First moves beyond the Savannah Region. *Will update soon.*
Current Status: --
A community-buy-in or maintenance success story. *Will update soon.*
Current Status: --
SUPPORT THE MISSION
Your donation brings clean water to communities in need. Every well built restores health, dignity, and opportunity for generations.
WAYS TO GIVE
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