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Well No. 23

Yrybucua Central Methodist Church

 Sponsor - Dalton First United Methodist Church

In Memory of Ms. Becky Kinney

Ms. Becky Kinney was a true servant of God with a huge heart for missions.  After she passed away to be with her Lord and Savior, her friends at the Dalton First United Methodist Church in Dalton, Georgia decided to donate the funds to drill a well in her memory.  We were pleased and honored to be able to provide this lasting memory in her honor.  This fall a team from Dalton FUMC came to Paraguay to assist on several projects and while they were there we were able to dedicate "Becky's Well".

We decided to drill this well at the Central Methodist Church of Yrybucua (what we would call "First Methodist" back in the US). This is the church in the town of Yrybucua where the Mission Center is located and where most of the work teams stay while they are serving in this part of Paraguay.  The town of Yrybucua does have a water system - however it is very inadequate for the needs of the population (see Well 22 for a description of our efforts to assist in remedying this problem).   Even more of an issue for the people of the community is the unreliability of electric power - it goes out often and sometimes stays out for 2 or 3 days.  When there is no power, the pump at the municipal well doesn't work and the water tank is quickly drained - leaving the people without water.  To help the people in the neighborhood, Pastor Luciano of the Central Methodist Church asked if we would drill a well and install a hand pump as a back-up supply.  We were pleased to help.

The drilling was not without difficulties, however.  While pulling the rod we were at the end and found that the last two pieces of drill rod AND the expensive tri-cone roller bit had somehow become disconnected and had fallen to the bottom of the borehole.  Cristian Aguayo, the Pastor's son, was drilling and is a very careful, attentive young man, so we were quite puzzled as to what had happened.  So - we went on a "fishing" expedition.  We re-inserted the drill rod (145 feet) in an attempt to rethread onto the disconnected rods.  Imagine hanging 2 inch diameter pipe in a hole deeper than a 14 story building and trying to thread onto another 2 inch pipe!  With a lot of prayer and careful work, we were able to reconnect and pull out the rods and bit (which had a total cost of almost $1,000).  The Lord was certainly looking after us.!  Once we got the rods out and inspected them we found that the threads had worn out to the point that they came loose - so the rod was put into the "to be repaired" pile for the time being.

It was true blessing that the Dalton team was able to come to dedicate the well.  They brought a plaque which was mounted on a post near the well and we had a beautiful dedication service.  The members of the congregation sang songs and thanked the team for the gift of clean, abundant water that is NOT tied to the electric grid!  Every person that drinks of the well will honor the memory of Ms. Becky Kinney - Praise the Lord!

 Technical Details

Sponsor:    Dalton First United Methodist Church, Dalton, Georgia

Drilling date: Oct 31-Nov 14, 2007

Location:   Latitude -   S24° 28.787’       Longitude - W 056° 05.195' 

Elevation:     183 meters above mean sea level

Total cost:    $1,715

Drill depth:  47.1 meters

Soil types encountered:    clayey sand and sandstone

Static groundwater level: 10.2 meters below top of casing

Dynamic groundwater level:  N/A - hand pump

Installed well depth:  46.1 meters

Length of screened section:  18 meters

Length of gravel packed section:   27 meters

Length and type of sealed section:  1 meter of bentonite pellets

Pump description:    Hand pump

Depth to base of pump:   36 meters

Flow rate:    N/A - hand pump

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