Tap dreams: Rural Senegal sits on water it cannot reach

An aerial view shows a boy collecting water from a well near the village of Tata Bathily in Matam, Senegal March 29, 2022. [Reuters]

When the water well began to run low in this remote village in northern Senegal in 2010, the government drilled another one, fit with a shiny metal hand pump and a sign commemorating the investment. Today, it barely emits a trickle, residents say.

Desperate in a sweltering region, the community last year raised $5,000 to try again. The new well failed to hit water, and has become the butt of a bitter village joke. Kids make mocking sounds from the well mouth, their voices repeating down the empty, waterless shaft.