Giving the Gift of Clean Water
Clean water for school children
AWWOA members have first-hand knowledge of the importance of safe drinking water and proper sanitation. Therefore, they support charitable organizations that directly tackle community problems related to bad water. Monies collected through member fund raising are donated to The Water School, a global, non-profit organization dedicated to providing safe water and sanitation solutions in developing nations.
Charitable Donations 2023
We would like to thank our members, suppliers, and guests for your attendance at the 2023 Annual Operators Seminar. Thank you to everyone who participated in the charitable donation activities, the 50/50 draws and the Silent Auction! Your participation and generosity make our yearly charitable donations a success. Our donation to the Water School this April was $23,940.00.
The project that our AWWOA donations will be championing in 2023 is a ‘Motorized Borehole Expansion’ in Petta, Uganda. Petta, is a sub-county in Eastern Uganda that has a new motorized borehole that was recently built. It serves 2,450 people across four communities.
With AWWOA’ s help, the plan is to extend the reach of the borehole to help an additional 2,560 people in three more villages, which will include 1,016 students at Mbula-Machari Primary School. This 2.7 km expansion would provide 25 litres of clean water per person per day in these communities through one new public tap stand in each community and a tap stand at the school. Included in this, all 512 households in these communities will participate in Water School's flagship hygiene and sanitation training.
Thanks again for your thoughtfulness and generosity!
Best Regards,
Bert E. Miller, Charitable Donations Chair
Simple solar disinfection process
Solar Disinfection
The Water School program integrates sanitation education programs with Solar Disinfection (SODIS) technique which effectively and simply improves the quality of drinking water. Contaminated water is collected and placed in clear plastic pop bottles which are left in direct sunlight on a hard surface for one full sunny or two full days, if cloudy. The sun’s UV rays kill the micro-organisms in the water making it safe for human consumption.
The Joy of Clean Water
Solar-Powered Borehole
Over the years, you have supported WaterSchool to teach rural Ugandans how to make their drinking water safe using the power of the sun with the SODIS (solar disinfection) method. Thank you for your support — particularly for your generosity last year.
Together, we have reached over a million people with this simple life changing technology.
SODIS has worked well in most places across Uganda where there is plentiful, but contaminated, surface water. But what about the places where it seldom rains? What happens to communities where surface water is scarce?
With your generous support last year, we started tackling this challenge by tapping into deep underground aquifers and bringing this water to the surface of communities in Uganda's dry corridors using solar-powered pumps.
This past November, I travelled to Uganda and got to visit one of the communities where the solar-powered borehole that you helped to build was up and running - bringing clean, fresh water up to the surface.
How does a solar-powered borehole work?
A pump powered by a large solar array draws water up from an underground spring and pumps it into a 10 meter high water tower for storage. From the tower, there is enough pressure to send the water by gravity to tap-stands in villages several kilometres away where community members can access it.
The borehole I visited is producing more clean water than we had planned. Today, it pumps out 5,000 litres of water every hour – enough for all 5,000 people in the area's seven villages!
The community celebrated the grand opening of the system while I was there — choirs sang, bands played, and a play about clean water was presented. People were thrilled!
It can be hard to fully understand just how transformative this solar-powered borehole will be for the communities. The water families used to consume was not safe as it was often gathered from muddy ponds and stagnant streams shared with animals. So people — especially young children — were regularly sick from diseases like typhoid and dysentery, and struggled with diarrhea and dehydration.
With your help, this is no longer the case. With clean water at hand, there is no more wasted money on medicine for waterborne illnesses, no more missing school and work. There is plenty of water and best of all, it is clean.
Who will maintain the system?
One of the key parts of building the solar powered borehole has been establishing Water User Committees at each of the tap stands to manage the water points well and ensure longevity for the whole system. The committees have been trained on how to maintain the tap stands and the entire borehole system. Maintenance on the borehole system is funded by the small water-use fees each community member pays to the Committees.
Before I left, I headed to the tap stand and put my water bottle under the spigot, a beautiful stream of clean water gushed out — overflowing my bottle.
As I took a sip of the cool, fresh water, I reflected on how grateful I am for you and your enduring support.
Doug and our friends at AWWOA, thank you for jumping in and supporting WaterSchool to build solar-powered boreholes alongside our continued work in SODIS training and hygiene/sanitation education. Thank you for your generosity.
You are helping to change the future for the people in Uganda we serve — I'm so grateful.
Best,
Tony Woodruff
Africa Program Director, WaterSchool
2019 Community Impact Report
In our 2019 Community Report, you'll read about how your generous donations helped us focus all of our resources and expertise on simple, replicable solutions.
Because of you, we can ensure that these solutions support the most vulnerable Ugandans in accessing clean water and basic sanitation and hygiene practices that are foundational to good health.
Richard Lau, Executive Director, WaterSchool
To view the full report, visit waterschool.ca.
