A single borehole costs $2,500 (£2,000) to drill but can serve thousands of villagers in an emergency, according to Makepeace Muzenda, the government’s local district administrator. Many of the 350 boreholes in the province were not working, so villagers instead dug holes in the dry river beds. Untreated and untested, such shallow stagnant water is a potential source of pollutants and water-borne diseases