After 5+ years, Village Drill brings water to 23 countries

Five years after BYU mechanical engineers and WHOlives.org introduced the human-powered Village Drill to the world, it's now in 23 countries and has produced more than 1,100 bore holes (water wells).
The human-powered drill can be disassembled so it can be transported to remote villages by truck, by hand, or, one instance, on a 3-day canoe ride up a river.
Additional footage provided by WHOlives.org and World Vision International
More from BYU News:
BYU’s village drill project bringing water to hundreds of thousands of people
“There’s more at work here than just us.”
In 2011, a group of mechanical engineering students built a human-powered drill to dig water wells as part of a senior capstone course. The project seemed promising, but little did they know how life-changing it would become.
Fast forward five years: There are now 55 human-powered “Village Drills” being used in 23 countries, responsible for drilling more than 1,100 boreholes and providing clean water to at least 300,000 people - and probably more.
“For every hour of engineering that was spent by BYU students, over 1,700 people-months of water has been delivered,” said Chris Mattson, BYU professor of mechanical engineering and the original faculty mentor for the project. “That’s over 144 years for every hour of engineering spent by students. That’s amazing. That’s the kind of impact we want to have.”
The drill belongs to WHOlives.org, a nonprofit that worked with BYU students to produce it six years ago. The drill came about after WHOlives founder John Renouard felt inspired to build something to help African countries access clean water.
Students spent two semesters designing and testing prototypes of the drill, and settled on a design that looks kind of like a spear that has vertically impaled a wheel of fortune. It is operated by four people, three who spin the wheel to turn the drill bit, and a fourth who lifts the bit up and down to punch through tough spots. A water pump system removes the dirt from the 6-inch-wide hole it creates.
The team first tested the drill in Tanzania in 2011, striking water after successfully reaching a 70-foot depth. Today, the drill has irrigated 109 acres, employed 238 people and provided 2 million people-months of water across Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Mali, Bolivia, the Philippines, and more.
Part of the success of the drill is that it can be easily built and maintained in developing countries. The drill uses no gears or customized parts, and it can easily be taken apart, transported in the bed of a truck and reassembled within an hour.
“There might be a million people out there drinking clean water today because of the work of these engineers at BYU,” Renouard said. “It’s not every day you can work on a project that has the potential to change the world. I hope the students never lose sight of what they did during those seven months to develop the drill.”

[@BowenDesignWorks]

Congratulations! The best part to me is at 4:08. You are teaching men to fish and opening possibilities unimagined, something most NGOs miss.

[@pauldean8638]

Never seen a more worthy selfless cause in recent history , nice job 👍

[@WHOlives]

Thank you for the encouraging comment! Please visit wholives.org/ for more information about our projects and mission.

[@elisevautour6292]

Much Gratitude for all that you do. Water is Life. Sending Blessings of Love, Light and Wellness. 💜🇨🇦

[@WHOlives]

Thank you for the encouraging comment! Please visit wholives.org/ for more information about our projects and mission

[@shawnkoda8146]

i dont mean to be offtopic but does any of you know a way to log back into an Instagram account? I was dumb lost my password. I would appreciate any assistance you can offer me

[@haroldnielsen8862]

This Human-Powered water drill is a huge gift to humanity blessing the lives of millions of thirsty people all around the world. Pure water for drinking and agriculture is needed in so many places everywhere. The governments of the world did not give this gift, but it came from poor BYU engineering students with a strong desire to help those in need. The "Village Drill" will work everywhere to continue to give the gift of life giving water for generation after generation.

[@Turnpost2552]

lol that BYU mechanical Engineer has only one shirt. This is very nice of them to have done this.

[@DavidVanLeeuwen]

I love this idea and execution! Great impact.

[@joelmacanaya7774]

God bless you all who made this possible. Prayers that you continue to inspire others to put their efforts in making other people SMILE! 🙏🏼🙏🏼♥️♥️

[@waterwelldrillingrigs]

Our drilling equipment has also helped many people in Africa to solve the problem of draught, let us refuel together, the future will be better!

[@MUBARAKMUBARAK-nt8iq]

ASSALAMUALIKUM : INSHAALLAH ALLAH BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY FRIENDS AND GOOD NEIGHBORS .

[@benjoe3868]

am from KENYA and my village is just among the many villages which dose not have access to water for years. Am just praying and fasting that one day you guys will visit us with blessings, its so hurting that only rich people in our country are guaranteed access to clean water of which they take advantage and sell it to the poor at a higher price maybe 3 $ per 20 ltrs of water you can just imagine the kinda hell my people are going through . or maybe you can assist me were i can get access to the machine even if its for hire

[@niccirenouard8117]

@benjoe Please go to our website www.WHOlives.org. Click 'About Us' on the top and "Contact Us'. We would love to come to your village

[@charlene274]

God bless those folks!!!!! Yay I'm so so happy to hear this!!!!!!!!!

[@lostkrusader4495]

You could add little swings on the bottom of the handles and it would be like one of those rides at Lagoon while it turns. For peoples pets I guess...

[@dinskiy]

fantastic work. keep it up, the world need people like you..

[@SusanMcOmber]

This is an incredible invention! Congratulations, guys. What a blessing for so many

[@tariqimam1]

Great this really helps the ones in needs.

[@renda1982]

Brilliant invention 👍🏾👍🏾 No fuel or pollution and it can be easily transported, assembled and handled by local people.

[@WHOlives]

Exactly! You get it! Thanks for the comment.

[@joshua_sykes]

Beautiful. Thanks for doing good!

[@chopstx4u207]

Beautiful project.

[@WHOlives]

Thank you for the encouraging comment! Please visit wholives.org/ for more information about our projects and mission

[@abeladamu5524]

God bless you all!!

[@lorettadavis6944]

It’s a shame that the local government doesn’t care enough to provide clean water to their citizens. May God bless these men and families.

[@Thegrape674]

This is amazing

[@alejandrogarcia-oo8nl]

hello it is very gratifying to see how each generation is a little more generous I can see in these examples how by building a better world for everyone we evolve as humanity gradually moving from individualism, selfishness, consumerism, sexism, etc. to grow in loving, caring, collaborating, sharing, etc. I see their faces and I see them with the satisfaction that we cannot achieve it from the objective of having more each time without asking ourselves why I want to have more? Thank you, you are a great inspiration for me.

[@michelod.i.y.5202]

Great project and wonderful initiative. I particularly like it because unlike a lot of other projects I've seen it didn't appear to be religious based. Clean Water is a basic amenity that shouldn't be offered due to race or religion. Last year I had a go at bringing clean drinking water to a rural community in Zambia, feel free to check it out, but I'm always looking for a future project and it looks like you have engineered a wonderful solution here. Keep up the good work.

[@sylviasibeko4644]

Well done guys god bless you all Fantastic x

[@WHOlives]

Thank you for the encouraging comment! Please visit wholives.org/ for more information about our projects and mission

[@ozvela5202]

World innovators. Amazing

[@hungnguyen-tr4cn]

Every time BYU used a village drill machine to the destination..do you just leave the machine to the village people after you found water or you take the machine back home ? and what the price for each machine and how long to make one ? thank you for your consideration of reply. CA.USA

[@niccirenouard8117]

@hungnguyen Please go to our website www.WHOlives.org. Click 'About Us' on the top and "Contact Us'. We would love to answer all of your questions.

[@isidoromancino6763]

Siete grandi.

[@KindCountsDeb3773]

I'm ignorant of such things, but questions: is the system able to keep out contaminants? Will the water well last? Does it cover all the building factors of an drill, to get safe water? Is there a long life for this well Thanks, and thank you for all the good you are doing.

[@WHOlives]

Those are great questions! Please contact [e-mail] and he will help you.

[@surendrarakwal6940]

🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 God bless all of you 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🌹🙏🏻🙏🏻🌹🙏🏻🌹🙏🏻🙏🏻 From India

[@WHOlives]

Thank you! Please visit WHOlives.org for our projects and mission.

[@johnnieblair1561]

Well done.

[@WHOlives]

Thank you for the encouraging comment! Please visit wholives.org/ for more information about our projects and mission

[@dennytjokrowidjojo3057]

Bless u all 🙏❤️

[@WHOlives]

Thank you for the encouraging comment! Please visit wholives.org/ for more information about our projects and mission

[@matheusxxe]

i love this

[@WHOlives]

Thank you for the encouraging comment! Please visit wholives.org/ for more information about our projects and mission

[@glennhertel1165]

How deep are you digging these? Shallow wells can usually be shot with an air compressor, solar powered pumps, charcoal filter?

[@WHOlives]

The Village Drill can drill up to 270 feet. Most aquifers are found at 40 to 50 feet and that's where the purest water supply is found.

[@uraninite8151]

Looks amazing. Where in DRC were you? I’m busy doing a project on water distribution and safety in my city Johannesburg,South Africa for school. I will look into your drill as a potential alternative for municipal water or for areas without access or where traditional boreholes are cost prohibitive.

[@WHOlives]

Thank you for considering our Village Drill. It is truly a remarkable machine. villagedrill.com I cannot tell you where in the DRC the team went because I wasn't there 😁 But we still have groups actively drilling, and you may want to watch this video next: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ap7Vdalji9Rlr9E

[@silverencrusted9423]

Well done in Africa. Bizarre here in Australia our inland rivers are drying up and people are leaving their properties and live stock are being slaughtered for lack of water...…… one has to ask this can be done in 3rd world Africa yet 1st world Australia is dying for lack of water and Government refuses to do anything to help. Maybe come to the new 3rd world Australian bush country and help us as our Government wont .

[@alkhamdulillahalkhamdulill5241]

Great

[@WanderingNature]

How can a person purchase one and what is the cost?

[@templernoel3416]

Wonderful! Do you have a contact in Kenya? I need this service

[@WHOlives]

Please contact George at [phone]. He is the in country manager for Kenya.

[@jackmiddleton2080]

So when you drill how does the dirt come out? Or does it get impacted to the sides of the hole as it goes down?

[@WHOlives]

Watch this video for a great explanation kzbin.info/www/bejne/j2G7hWOGi7Kad7c

[@jamesbukachi6830]

This is awesome. I like to know the cost of hiring the drill so as to drill a borehole in my village. I would like to also to know the cost of the drill so to help people get the water resource hidden underground beyond their reach. Thank you.

[@niccirenouard8117]

@JamesBukachi Please go to our website www.WHOlives.org. Click 'About Us' on the top and "Contact Us'. We would love to come to your village

[@larrybailey3678]

Does excess water go into a tank?????

[@jjstewart4341]

Is it a water jet? I wish it said more about how it worked

[@deadchannel2811]

ITS A PLAYGROUND!

[@laneeardink9849]

Why are Africans unable to figure these things out for themselves?

[@bill5974]

6inch rock roller bit. Should've just asked a driller or an engineering geologist. We travel all over the world drilling water wells amongst other things. Great idea though.

[@WHOlives]

We are always looking for partnerships. What is your organization? Please email [e-mail].

[@gatkoipuok7446]

I love the village drilling machine which I would like to know the name of this drilling

[@peterjakobsen4715]

wholives.org/our-mission/village-drill-2/

[@RcCrawfordwellinventions]

The village drill looks a lot like my much larger drill I patented in 1988. The difference is that my was a crane mount with large engines and a reverse flow method that is much more efficient than the village drill. Basically, it is the same drill as mine without a power unit and the cantilever and lifting mechanism is much larger.

[@jhaz89]

Well goodie for you... Did you patent to make profit off it? These are just volunteers not trying to profit.

[@orange8175]

too good to be true

[@WHOlives]

Twelve years later and WHOlives has drilled over 8,000 boreholes or wells. It is good and it is true.

[@irenedavo3768]

Do you know Jim Nduruchi

[@gringbel]

How can we have this tool, is it for sale? Or do you guys have a diagram on how to create this tool?

[@niccirenouard8117]

@GringBel Please go to our website www.WHOlives.org. Click 'About Us' on the top and "Contact Us'. We look forward to hearing from you!

[@josh6091]

That hit my hand and it hurt

[@studentleejunxikenny2021]

this video become my homework:|

[@boringlifer8399]

good life matters :D

[@mastermanyang7767]

i like the idea can you guys please do it in my country South Sudan

[@WHOlives]

We have several drills in South Sudan. Can you email [e-mail] to discuss the possibilities? Thanks.

[@Rei-m3g]

i mean you could just use a water crank pump.

[@lifouyt5719]

Respect

[@junnelpepito5161]

I wonder how long it would take until it breaks

[@WHOlives]

Our original Village Drill, manufactured in 2010, is still going strong. Please visit villagedrill.com for more information on this incredible human powered drill.

[@31337flamer]

free drilling for Nestlé to take over.

[@isidoromancino6763]

E in vendita?

[@enzymerc6969]

the only things i hate and dont understand is why there are 46 people who disliked this video...

[@WHOlives]

We laughed out loud at your comment! We don't understand why either.

[@drippingwax]

@@WHOlives It seems some people downvote everything.

[@machineshop2029]

Why no use gasoline engine drill?

[@tenpin2387]

Who are these people?

[@WHOlives]

Please sign up for our newsletter at wholives.org/. We send weekly updates and would love to have you in our community.

[@pamelahomeyer748]

My compliments to everyone for this but I would also like to see this available on the Indian reservations here in America that are without water

[@drippingwax]

Absolutely, but here in rural Arizona, our water table is 10,000 feet down!

[@hamiddalo3444]

Ok ✅

[@cliffordcrear6981]

God's work!

[@DavidLS1]

I wonder of these people know that even the poorest Western home has a minimum of six fresh water outlets?

[@WHOlives]

Thanks for your comment! We have seen people collect water from toilets in third world nations because it's cleaner than what they're currently drinking. Please visit Please visit wholives.org/ for more information about our projects and mission.

[@user-ff3px4zn7d]

Very expensive to buy 24000 dollars Specially for poor countries You should make it cheaper

[@ramdilsrinivasa8285]

Why should anyone pay$24000 for few square tubes, hydraulic ram, Gi pipes and drill bit??

[@michaelanderson7988]

I am the VP of Operations for A Better Drill Inc. We manufacture the Village Drill for WHOlives. The Village Drill is extremely durable and well made. We use only the finest products available so the drill is built to last. The $24K you mention includes the drill frame, 50 meters of custom made drilling pipe, gas powered water pump, all needed service tools and 5 industrial drill bits including a PDC Diamond bit. It also includes extensive training materials on drilling and business practices and support. We do everything we can to keep the cost as low as we can but we do have to cover our expenses.

[@ramdilsrinivasa8285]

Though idea innovative and supposedly to alleviate the real issues, the price at which the drill is sold ($24K per drill)in the poorest nation is completely atrocious by WHOlives for what a few sections of Square tubes, hydraulic ram and drill bits, The cost shouldn't be more than $500 per drill. Why this is so much propagated as super solution when you can import a portable rig with a 5HP gasoline engine propelled rig from china For $1k to $2k which can drill to the depth of 60M

[@michaelanderson7988]

Ramdil. I am the VP of Operations for A Better Drill Inc. We manufacture the Village Drill for WHOlives. The Village Drill is extremely durable and well made. We use only the finest products available so the drill is built to last. The $24K you mention includes the drill frame, 50 meters of custom made drilling pipe, gas powered water pump, all needed service tools and 5 industrial drill bits including a PDC Diamond bit. It also includes extensive training materials on drilling and business practices and support. We do everything we can to keep the cost as low as we can but we do have to cover our expenses.

[@bitcoinzoomer9994]

They don't know how to make wells?

[@WHOlives]

A well is developed after the drill has reached the aquafer where clean water is abundant. WHOlives drill teams finish all their wells with a hand, electric, or solar pump.

[@josequevedo1207]

What if there’s rock

[@larrybailey3678]

or a hard place!!!

[@matthewgoodson1873]

Since the original design was done, they’ve added a hydraulic ram that provides downward force on the bit, so it can cut through rock. They also have a new “SubT” design you can look up that’s half the weight and much easier to transport.

[@niccirenouard8117]

@JoseQuevedo Please go to our website www.WHOlives.org. Click 'About Us' on the top and "Contact Us'. The new design is amazing!

[@jay-fh6wp]

W

[@TheMikeman1971]

May God Bless you All in Jesus Christ's name.

[@WHOlives]

Thank you for the encouraging comment! Please visit wholives.org/ for more information about our projects and mission.

[@edwardbarnhart1698]

Mark 9:41

[@patricesilva8004]

Please whom ever can help that don't know what to do with their money help them. God help these 3rd world countries for water resources I ask you Jehovah please have mercy on them

[@demariosreefaquarium7475]

One of the biggest essentials for life in some countries are wasted . Here at my job,my employer buys a few crates of 💧 for us and my dump ass Co workers will leave 1/2 bottles in the trash or discarded in the locker room. I jump dead in their chulos, you somewhere folks don't have any water and your wasting it.

[@WHOlives]

This is a funny but true clip about how we have so much water that we "poo" in it. So much waste. So true kzbin.info/www/bejne/bmmTi56ter-tmpo

[@drippingwax]

@@WHOlives That is a great clip that I can use to share this! Thanks! :)

[@brandonf3695]

E

[@ReevansElectro]

I really am disappointed by projects like this. It is very short term thinking. What happens after you drill the hole? 1) People use the water (most project analysis ends here) 2) People have to let the water out of their bodies 3) Water and solids are deposited close to the place where the people live 4) Contaminated water seeps into the soil 5) Seeping water goes back to the base of the well 6) People drink contaminated water 7) People get sick and die What is really needed is education about germs, cleanliness and sanitation. Then the people need to be trained to make and use latrines located in safe areas that are sealed against leakage. Then drill your wells. Quit killing the people of Africa and India.

[@rhiannonkleinman2395]

and you are building toy hovercrafts. Way to change the world bro

[@larrybailey3678]

Go Robert, help them.

[@WHOlives]

This was quite a while ago, but I just saw it and wanted to put your mind at ease. Not only is my technology revolutionary but my approach is also. First realize the students who engineered the drill are not the ones drilling the wells. Other NGO's and organizations will use the technology to drill wells at 75% less cost in 75% more areas. With our approach, the first problem I solved was derelict wells. Here is the simple answer. A well that is making money, the day it breaks is the day it gets fixed. We train everyone on how to make money with the water from the well. It is owned by a Co-op, and it is never pay per use. The day it breaks is the day it gets fixed. Your second point is rather insulting to the people, they do not defecate near their wells #1, #2 all parasites or anything organic will be filtered by the earth within 45' our wells are always much deeper and pure. What good does it do to teach sanitation and build latrines if you don't have clean water? You bring them clean water and as you do, you teach them sanitation using the clean water and again latrines also need water to function properly.

[@osimnod]

Robert, I am really disappointed in your short-term thinking. You assume these villagers can't be taught about germs, cleanliness and sanitation WHILE their well is being drilled. You assume they don't know how to avoid contaminating their new drinking well with body waste. These wells are anywhere from 30' to 200' deep. Do you really think contamination seeps that far into substrate from the surface? What are you doing, personally, to alleviate their suffering?

[@JB-bb3dl]

Hmmmm. Interesting assumption and logic (or lack of) you have that human waste travels through 250 feet of soil full of hungry microorganisms and is still more dangerous than the water these people were previously using at the surface. How do you know the water was not tested? How do you know the locals were not educated on how to protect the groundwater? And what data do you have supporting your assertions that the wells that these amazing students and professors developed are killing people in Africa and India? The absurdity of your illogic and unfounded criticisms and accusations is exceeded only by your ignorance. Either backup your claims with evidence or citations, or keep your hater know-it-all attitude to yourself.

[@peanuthead1648]

This is amazing

[@WHOlives]

We sure think so! Please subscribe to our channel for updates: kzbin.info