The medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has succeeded in repairing a water supply system at a camp for conflict-displaced persons in Melut, Upper Nile State, according to a new article published by MSF on its website.

After fighting last month in Melut, the water system was riddled with bullet holes and suffered a blockage. People at the Dethoma 1 camp resorted to drinking from the Nile for days. The aid group says that people were given water purification packets to protect them from water-borne diseases in the river water until the system could be repaired.

Paul Jawor, MSF’s water and sanitation technical adviser who helped repair the system said, “The first thing I noticed was that there were lots of bullet holes in several of the water tanks, so we knew we had to patch those – easy to assess and with an easy solution.”

“We then tested the water system and it worked for a while, but then the water stopped flowing. We checked the valves and discovered that they were blocked, so we decided to dismantle the system.”

He explained that MSF's tools at their warehouse were stolen when the hospital was looted, so he searched around the IDP camp for tools and found a giant spanner and some tools from a car toolkit. After disassembling the system, they found a plastic water bottle lodged inside and removed the blockage to allow water to flow.

Photo: MSF/Paul Jawor