July 29 was a long‑awaited day for Mande, a student at Katuba School in Kamina, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). That day, he eagerly ran to the water collection point at the school gate, turned on the tap, cupped his hands to collect some water, and took a sip. Turning to his classmates who had followed him, he shouted, “This water tastes a little sweet!”

Not far away, DRC President Félix Tshisekedi was attending the inauguration ceremony of the Chinese‑built Kamina Water Treatment Plant. This clean water will flow through a five‑kilometer pipeline network to water collection points throughout the city.

“Building the water treatment plant without connecting the pipelines would be like holding a bowl in your hands but being unable to get the food into your mouth,” said Liu Yufeng, the project’s on‑site manager. In mid‑May, when he and his team mobilized for construction of the second‑phase, five‑kilometer water supply pipeline network, the dry season was fast approaching.

The pipeline had to cross a steep slope of red clay. The rainy season in the DRC was not yet over when a torrential downpour turned the freshly excavated trenches into muddy pools. Workers jumped into the trenches to drain water and clear the mud. Their rain boots sank into the mud, but they pulled them out and kept working.

An even bigger challenge awaited them at an old water tower. The new pipeline had to be connected to the existing tower, but the dimensions of the aging connection point did not match the new materials. Technical specialists worked with the workers to take measurements and fabricated adapter fittings on site, a process that took several days.

Local worker Kasongo was responsible for excavating the trenches. He had previously worked odd jobs for private employers but had never experienced such a pace of work. “The Chinese workers told us it had to be completed before the dry season. We dug trenches during the day and laid pipes at night, sometimes working until the moon came up. They taught me how to read the drawings, and I taught them how to tell which clouds might bring heavy rain.”

The construction team divided the five‑kilometer pipeline into six work fronts and commenced construction simultaneously. Seventy local workers worked in shifts. Excavators cleared the way ahead, followed closely by the pipe‑laying crews. On June 19, the entire pipeline network was connected, with the construction itself taking only 10 days.

“Local residents cannot afford to wait,” Liu Yufeng said. “The dry season was approaching. They were waiting for water to cook and waiting for water to go to school. Every day we could save meant one less day they had to endure the wait.”

After the pipeline network was connected, technicians spent more than a month repeatedly commissioning the equipment and testing water quality to ensure that every drop of water delivered to local households met the required standards.

On July 29, the Kamina Water Treatment Plant officially began operation. Clean water flowed from the plant into the pipeline network, up to the water towers, and finally out through water collection points along the streets. The one at the entrance of Katuba School is the closest to the children.

At Katuba School, the students gathered around the water collection point at the school gate. Mande turned on the tap, and clean water gushed out. He stepped aside and said, “You should try it too.” One child leaned over and took a sip, his eyes widening. “It’s sweet!” Mande smiled, squeezed back into the crowd, and took several more big gulps.

Not far away, several Chinese workers who had just finished their shift sat resting by the roadside, their work clothes soaked through and their safety helmets resting on their knees.

Clean water was flowing through the pipeline network to households across Kamina.