A solar-powered borehole to fill Poguwatu's rainwater tank through Sumba's long dry season, so the village has clean water all year round.
Poguwatu, in Sumba Tengah, has no year-round source of clean water. Our documentary, Where Indonesia Ends, was made there. The full extent of the problem is shown from 4:30. Poguwatu is part of Desa Cendana and one of the more remote areas of Kecamatan Mamboro, in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province. The Kepala Desa (village head) of Cendana states that it is home to 47 households, 188 people. For daily needs they draw water from a water hole below a cliff, and the water is dirty. For clean water they travel 15 to 20 kilometres by motorbike, outside Poguwatu and outside Desa Cendana. Collecting water falls on women and children. In a letter of 29 September 2026, the Camat (head) of Mamboro sub-district confirmed that no government clean water programme is planned for Poguwatu in 2026 or 2027. Between October 2025 and January 2026, local leaders from Sumba, including Dimas (Ultramas El Shaday), who now chairs Yayasan Jejak Kasih Indonesia, built an 18,000-litre rainwater tank in Poguwatu with residents, with help from EffortX Foundation volunteers. The tank is still used, but it fills only in the rainy season, and through Sumba's long dry season it stands empty for months at a time. The tank has its own project page, linked below. This project will drill a borehole of about 80 metres, fit a solar-powered pump and pipe the water to the existing tank, so that the tank can fill from the ground as well as from the rain, all year round. It also adds a step-free tap stand at the tank that children, older people and people with disabilities can reach, laboratory tests of the water before the bore is connected, hygiene education for families and schoolchildren, and training for a village water committee. The Kepala Desa expects around 500 people, including families from neighbouring hamlets, to use the water. Preparation has begun. A geophysical survey in September 2026, done free of charge by Mission Mankind, marked the best drilling point and indicated water at about 70 to 90 metres. The surveyor's written recommendation will be obtained before the drilling contract is signed. On 8 October 2026 a community meeting in Poguwatu, recorded in minutes signed by the Kepala Desa, chose the drilling site and recorded the landholder's agreement to the use of the land for the borehole, the solar panels and the pipe. The meeting formed a four-member water committee, two of them women, and agreed a maintenance contribution of IDR 10,000 per household per month, with families who cannot pay exempt. Residents will help dig the pipe trench and carry materials. The drilling will be done by a contractor based in Sumba Tengah, on its itemised quote of 10 October 2026. The contractor has stated in writing that if hard rock stops the drilling, and still does after it moves to a second point, it will return its advance except the cost of drilling water, and that if it withdraws, it will return everything it has been paid. That statement does not cover a bore that reaches depth without hitting rock and finds no water, so terms for that case will be written into the contract before it is signed. The contractor's final 50% will be paid only after a pump test confirms water. Drilling is priced per metre. If the water is deeper than 80 metres, EffortX Foundation will pay for the extra drilling from its own funds, up to IDR 17,500,000, so it is not part of this appeal. Yayasan Jejak Kasih Indonesia (the yayasan), an Indonesian foundation, delivers the work. Funds are raised and receipted by EffortX Foundation Ltd (Australia) and then released to the yayasan in stages. The first release is made when the project reaches its funding goal. Each later release is made only after evidence for the stage before it has been reviewed and approved. A grant has also been applied for from the Australian Government's Direct Aid Program, with a decision expected around December 2026. If it is awarded, it will be shown here as Australian Government funding to the yayasan, and gifts made here will fund only what it does not cover. Stage budgets are set in Indonesian rupiah, IDR 149,015,000 in total, and shown in US dollars at IDR 17,949.09 per US dollar, the platform's rate on 16 October 2026. The goal is the stage total plus the platform's 5% fee. EffortX Foundation Ltd has been endorsed as a deductible gift recipient since 15 July 2026, so card donations made here are tax-deductible in Australia.
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Clean water at the tank in Poguwatu all year round, so that families no longer have to climb down to the water hole or travel 15 to 20 km for clean water. The benefit falls most on the women and children who carry the water.
Water in the tank all year round, including through the dry season, shown by a weekly tank-level record kept by the water committee
Households no longer use the water hole or travel 15 to 20 km for clean water, measured by a household survey before and after
Bore water tested by a laboratory against Indonesian drinking-water standards before it is connected to the tank, with the results shared with the community
A trained water committee, two of its four members women, maintaining the system with its own maintenance fund
Families and schoolchildren taught safe water storage, handwashing and how to protect the tap
Ensuring that communities become self-sufficient through phased implementation.
The water committee is trained before handover, not after, and the system is formally handed over to the community with a record signed by the Kepala Desa and the committee. Through the first dry season the committee will record the tank level every week, and the pump and tap stand will be inspected 3 and 6 months after handover.
The borehole, pump and tank will be owned by the community from handover, and the water will be open to every resident without exception. At the meeting of 8 October 2026, before any construction, residents agreed a maintenance contribution of IDR 10,000 per household per month: with 47 households, up to about IDR 5.6 million a year, so the repair fund operates from the day the water point opens. Families who cannot pay are exempt. The committee will hold the fund and keep a written record of contributions and spending. The pump will run on solar power, so there will be no fuel cost, and the pump and parts will be specified so that spare parts can be bought in Sumba. Yearly retesting of the water is recommended.
Once the project is finished, donors share their experiences and impact reports are published here.
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