Safe water for Building Tomorrow students
Posted by Steve Hall on September 28, 2020
BEFORE:
Every day, young students from Building Tomorrow COU Primary School make the difficult walk to a nearby swamp that is shared by more than one thousand community members, hundreds of livestock animals, and other wild creatures. Despite the water’s high contamination levels and how difficult the collection process is– students must cross traffic, walk along a steep slope, and follow a path through dense vegetation– it’s the prevalence of muggings, theft, and sexual assault that occur near the swamp that poses the most serious threat to their safety. By providing a reliable source of clean drinking water right on Building Tomorrow COU Primary School’s premises, we will provide critical safeguards and protections for the 520 current staff and students, as well as the hundreds of others who will pass through the school’s doors in the coming decades.
PROJECT:
Our implementing partner, Ugandan Water Project, erected a 10,000 liter polyethylene tank on a base made of brick, hard core and cement. Once cured, the crew placed the tank on the base, made an overflow hole in the top of the structure and attached a pipe to it that extends six inches beyond the perimeter of the base. Crew members also attached face boards to the roof of the building adjacent to the tank in order to create a suitable surface to which they attached the gutters that allow water to flow from the metal roof to the tank. Just before the outlet pipe reaches the tank, a “T” joint was inserted to create a first flush, a rudimentary filtration system that reduces the amount of debris and contaminants that enter the tank. The crew then constructed a protective barrier around the tank and first flush, as well as a tap stand located slightly downhill of the tank. The rainwater collection system is paired with Sawyer Point One water filters in order to ensure that all water collection from the tank is safe for drinking.Thank you for bringing safe water to Building Tomorrow COU Primary School!
Every day, young students from Building Tomorrow COU Primary School make the difficult walk to a nearby swamp that is shared by more than one thousand community members, hundreds of livestock animals, and other wild creatures. Despite the water’s high contamination levels and how difficult the collection process is– students must cross traffic, walk along a steep slope, and follow a path through dense vegetation– it’s the prevalence of muggings, theft, and sexual assault that occur near the swamp that poses the most serious threat to their safety. By providing a reliable source of clean drinking water right on Building Tomorrow COU Primary School’s premises, we will provide critical safeguards and protections for the 520 current staff and students, as well as the hundreds of others who will pass through the school’s doors in the coming decades.
PROJECT:
Our implementing partner, Ugandan Water Project, erected a 10,000 liter polyethylene tank on a base made of brick, hard core and cement. Once cured, the crew placed the tank on the base, made an overflow hole in the top of the structure and attached a pipe to it that extends six inches beyond the perimeter of the base. Crew members also attached face boards to the roof of the building adjacent to the tank in order to create a suitable surface to which they attached the gutters that allow water to flow from the metal roof to the tank. Just before the outlet pipe reaches the tank, a “T” joint was inserted to create a first flush, a rudimentary filtration system that reduces the amount of debris and contaminants that enter the tank. The crew then constructed a protective barrier around the tank and first flush, as well as a tap stand located slightly downhill of the tank. The rainwater collection system is paired with Sawyer Point One water filters in order to ensure that all water collection from the tank is safe for drinking.Thank you for bringing safe water to Building Tomorrow COU Primary School!
Check out your impact!
- You brought clean water to 520 people
- You eliminated 49.43 miles of walking per day
- You reduced collection time by 137.50 hours per day
Notes:
– Calculations are based the on number of 20 liter jerrycans used each day at this facility: 50 jerrycans
– One jerrycan per trip to original water source
– Distance is calculated for a round trip, using GPS, as the crow flies
Special thank you to:
UW Lab School, WY and Hamilton K-8 School, CA for supporting this project.
Our implementing partner: Ugandan Water Project
