SAquaSolve Rwanda
Community-based safe water organization
First implementation: Gashora
Bugesera District, Rwanda
Founder & Legal Representative: Sonia Irakoze
The Problem
Rwanda has water. The crisis is that the water communities live beside cannot safely be consumed. In Gashora, Bugesera District, families live beside Lake Mirayi while their children walk miles to distant wells. Those who cannot make that journey drink directly from contaminated surface water, which carries waterborne disease. During SAquaSolve's community engagement, residents also described safety concerns associated with collecting water directly from the lake. This is not a scarcity problem. It is a treatment gap: one that affects health and traps communities in cycles of illness and lost time.
Safe water is as much an economic challenge as a health one. Hours spent traveling to water sources are hours lost to education, work, and economic participation — barriers directly at odds with Rwanda's Vision 2050 goals.
What SAquaSolve Is
SAquaSolve Rwanda is a community-based organization working to expand access to safe drinking water in underserved rural communities by developing and scaling solar-powered community water systems that treat non-potable surface water and distribute safe drinking water through accessible community water points.
Centralized, solar-powered treatment
One containerized treatment plant, not treatment at each access point — solar power for both intake pumping and treatment.
Multiple community access points
Treated water is distributed to several community access points from a single treatment system, not one stand-alone device.
Community ownership & operations
Local operators and institutions run day-to-day service and maintenance; the operating and affordability model is still under development.
Gashora, Our First Implementation
Gashora Sector, Bugesera District, Rwanda
Funded by the 2026 Davis Projects for Peace award, SAquaSolve is developing one solar-powered treatment system serving multiple community access points in Gashora — to validate the technical model, test the ownership structure, and generate evidence for future replication.
The Rwanda Alignment
Rwanda's Vision 2050 identifies clean water and sanitation as foundational to national development and commits to universal safe water access. SAquaSolve aims to complement Rwanda's existing water-sector work, pursuing the institutional coordination, regulatory guidance and approvals necessary to develop the Gashora system responsibly.
Partnership Pathways
Fund the Work
For foundations, Rotary clubs, philanthropic and institutional supporters, and government partners — catalytic funding and coordination as the Gashora system moves toward construction, and support for SAquaSolve's broader programs.
Build With Us
For engineers, infrastructure specialists and implementation partners — hydraulic, civil, mechanical, electrical, solar, treatment and monitoring expertise.
Research With Us
For universities, laboratories and researchers — water-quality testing, engineering support, monitoring, and student and faculty engagement.
Why SAquaSolve Began
Sonia Irakoze spent three years in Gashora as a boarding student at Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technology (GGAST), where her connection to the community and to Lake Mirayi began. As a Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Rochester and recipient of the 2026 Davis Projects for Peace award, she returned to build the infrastructure her community deserves to own.
Contact
Sonia Irakoze
Founder & Legal Representative, SAquaSolve Rwanda
University of Rochester · Projects for Peace Fellow
irakozesonia123@gmail.com
www.saquasolverwanda.org
SAquaSolve Rwanda · Gashora, Bugesera District
Projects for Peace · University of Rochester