Ingomar Living Waters is able to efficiently source and fund water projects and communicate details about those water projects back to the donors who made them possible. This closed loop, where donors can see the impact their generosity has on people in need of clean water makes them want to donate again and again having more and more impact in bringing the gift of clean water to the world. This page highlights key aspects of Ingomar Living Waters projects and project pricing.
Efficient
Since our founding in 2011, Ingomar Living Waters (ILW) has focused on ensuring that contributed donations towards water projects go to water projects and not to overhead. We are able to do this because of two things. First, ILW is all-volunteer. We have no paid staff. Second, we’ve been able to identify a group of partners with project reach into countries around the world who are willing to work with us on their incremental cost of doing a water project in the field. They have agreed to not to build their own fundraising and admin overhead into project costs. This allows us to do water projects around the world very efficiently so your money goes further by directly helping those in need of clean water.
Tiered Pricing
Before 2018, we solicited projects from our field partners and they cost whatever they cost whether it be $3,279 or $3,682. But that made it more difficult for us to scale up the number of projects we could do. So we asked partners if they’d be able to agree on a set of standardized project price points. Since then, because we can much more efficiently match donors who are able to contribute at different levels with projects sourced at those levels, we’ve been able to grow the number of projects we’re able to do every year from under 20 to almost 50. And we hope to continue scaling up the number of projects we’re able to do every year.
Our current standard project pricing tiers are:
- Extra Small (XS): $1,700
- Small (S): $3,500
- Medium (M): $5,000
- Large (L): $8,000
- Extra Large (XL): $15,000
On occassion we’ll go off the upper end of the tiering structure to fund large developments in a region. But the standardized pricing allows people and organizations to decide how much they can afford to contribute to their own water project, and then we can quickly match that up with qualified shovel-ready projects.
Pricing Determination
Most of our projects are water wells. Although in some areas of Latin America, Africa, and Asia where surface water is plentiful year-round, we will do water filtration and/or distribution projects. For water wells, the main determinants of project cost are Accessibility & Depth.
Accessibility
Accessibility is the ability to get the drilling rig to the borehole location. In much of India and Pakistan, water is needed in areas that are commonly accessible by road. So it’s easy to drive a drilling rig right to the borehole site. In parts of Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, sites needing water are very remote and often accessible only via dirt roads that are impassable in rainy season. In the Amazon Basin in Latin America, sites are often only accessible by river boats which means it’s only possible to get portable drilling rigs to the drilling location, and that is expensive. Also, geology at the drilling site, in particular deep layers of rock, require heavier and more powerful drilling rigs which can also drive up expense.
Depth
When the water table that is able to support water flow needs at a particular location is less than 250 feet (75 meters), typically a hand pump can be used. But when usable water is deeper than 250 feet, then an electric pump is required to lift water to the surface. And an electric pump on a deeper well introduces another problem or two. You cannot simply turn an electric pump on and off when someone wants water. The water has to be pumped too far for that. You need to run the pump long enough to generate flow and then sustain that flow which requires one or more storage tanks. And then gravity comes back into play and you want those storage tanks elevated so you don’t need a second pump to deliver the water from the tanks to the people needing instant access to the water. This usually means building a tower for the storage tanks which adds to costs. And if the well location does not have municipal electricity, then solar arrays are required to power the electric pump, adding more costs.
Based on these factors, Extra Small (XS) projects are almost always wells less than 250 feet deep, allowing for a hand pump, in areas with a good road system all the way to the project site. So you will see many Extra Small projects in India and Pakistan.
Medium (M) projects tend to be hand pump projects in areas that are harder to get to. Think somewhat accessible areas of Uganda or Kenya, or easier-to-access areas in Latin America. Pricing of labor and parts in Latin America is higher than in Asia and Africa, so what might be an Extra Small or Small project there can become a Medium priced project in Latin America.
Extra Large (XL) projects tend to be projects that require a deep well necessitating an electric pump and storage tanks and towers. And when solar arrays are also needed to power the electric pump, pricing can grow beyond the Extra Large project pricing point. Also, a very hard to get to location, such as within the Amazon Basin in Latin America accessible only by boat, can quickly become Large or Extra Large in price for even a hand pump well.
Price Increases
From 2018 until 2021, our partners have agreed to keep water project pricing at levels set in early 2018, even though some costs associated with projects were increasing. At the beginning of 2021, the labor costs forced us to raise pricing for the smallest (XS) water projects, from $1,500 to $1,700. Unfortunately, later in 2021, petrol/gasoline prices in much of the 3rd world skyrocketed and with shortages in some parts of the world, gas prices in some areas with supply issues in 2022 spiked to 10x what they were at the beginning of 2021. And COVID shocked labor market worldwide and labor costs on drilling teams increased. And also well parts and drilling piping increased in price. The net result is that in 2022 we, in conjunction with our drilling partners, needed to raise water project pricing based on increased costs. Price changes at the beginning of 2022 were:
- XS: $1,700 (no change)
- S: $3,000 → $3,500
- M: $4,500 → $5,000
- L: $6,000 → $8,000
- XL: $12,000 → $15,000
All projects are made possible by World Changers. Become a World Changer today by funding a water project.