Water Blogged

A government-aided primary and nursery day school in Uganda, St. Bruno Mwembe Primary School, hosts 500 students, taught by 15 teachers in 8 classrooms. Their primary water source was piped water into the yard. Still, this source is highly unreliable, and staff described it as of poor quality, with an unacceptable color and taste. It is sometimes unavailable during daytime hours, typically only four days a week. Students would fetch water twice a day and often miss class in the dry season to find alternate water sources. Most of the school’s water-related expenses centered around treatment, which they did by rudimentary filtration and boiling.

Our implementing partner, the Ugandan Water Project, erected a 10,000-liter polyethylene tank on a base made of brick, hardcore, and cement. Once cured, the crew placed the tank on the base, created an overflow hole at 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 to create a suitable surface for attaching gutters that will allow water from the metal roof to flow 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 wall around the tank and a tap stand was located slightly downhill from the tank. The rainwater collection system will be paired with four Sawyer Point One water filters to ensure that all water collected from the tank will be safe for drinking.

– You brought clean water to a school with 15 staff, serving 500 students at the time of project installation
– Previously, students and staff fetched from ⁠an unreliable piped supply
– By bringing a rainwater collection system to facility grounds, we estimate that you eliminated up to 0.15 miles of walking and 6.00 hours of collection time per day!

Note: Time and distance calculations are based on the average number of 20 liter jerrycans that UWP rainwater collection systems can provide each day. We assume that every jerrycan fetched from the UWP rainwater collection system replaces one trip to the previous water source. Distance from the facility to the previous water source is calculated for a round trip as the crow flies, using GPS coordinates.

Thanks to the following for supporting this project:
– Fellowship of Daystar, IL
– Louisburg High School, KS
– St. Barnabas School WELLness Project, OH
– Von Steuben Metro Science Center, IL