Safe Water for Schools and Hospitals [Safe-WaSH] Initiative-Phase II

Safe Water for Schools and Hospitals [Safe-WaSH] Initiative
1. Introduction
Water is life; therefore, the importance of access to potable water cannot be overemphasized. We believe that more needs to be done to ensure easy access to potable water. We are also inspired by the statement by the president of waterforeveryone, Jacques Lamolle that “With more than 10% of the world population not having access to safe, drinkable water, there is more we can do to help alleviate this statistic”.
Our initiative to distribute good quality filtered water to children in schools and to hospitals, we believe, will go a long way to help alleviate the statistic. In addition, we seek to develop an innovative model where local partners can act as multipliers for expansion of drinkable water in remote communities, promote a cheaper access to water in schools and hospitals, and improvement of water quality through new technologies and solutions. By so doing we believe we will make a greater contribution towards achieving the goals of the waterforeveryone team and improve global access to safe, drinkable water.
We are happy to partner with Everpure Ghana Limited, a water filtering and packaging company in Kumasi, Ghana to carry our this initiative. Everpure Ghana Limited will produce safe drinkable water for distribution to our target schools and Hospitals.
1.1 The Problem
Lack of access to safe, drinkable water in schools and hospitals is on the increasing globally which according to the WASHWatch.org, causes about 315,000 children under-five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by dirty water and poor sanitation. That’s almost 900 children per day or one child every two minutes.
There is the urgent need to address this problem with a lot of commitment. The available data is alarming.
2. Purpose
The problem and this initiative have become necessary in the face of the following alarming facts;
According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Report 2015, 663 million people in the world (one in every ten people) do not have access to clean water. Whereas, 31% of schools do not have access to clean water (UNICEF, Advancing WASH in Schools Monitoring, 2015).
In addition, around 315,000 children under-five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by dirty water and poor sanitation. That’s almost 900 children per day, or one child every two minutes (WASHWatch.org). However, if everyone everywhere had clean water, the number of diarrhoeal deaths would be cut by 34% (Prüss-Ustün A, Bartram J, Clasen T et al. Burden of disease from inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene in low- and middle-income settings: a retrospective analysis of data from 145 countries. Tropical Medicine & International Health. 2014; 19 (8):894-905. doi:10.1111/tmi.12329).
At the present rates of progress, everyone in low- and middle-income countries won’t have clean water until 2057 (WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Report 2015 and WASHwatch).
It is also reported that 42% of healthcare facilities in Africa do not have access to safe water. (WHO/UNICEF, 2015).
Over 3 million people in Ghana lack access to improved water sources and, 7.913% of this population are rural folks (WHO/UNICEF Water Supply Statistics, 2015).
By investing in clean water alone, young children around the world can gain more than 413 million days of health! (World Health Organization. “Costs and benefits of water and sanitation improvements at the global level.” http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/wsh0404/en/)
It is a result of these alarming facts that we seek to contribute in reducing the problem through our initiative.
3. Goals and Objectives/Research Questions
3.1 Goal
To provide children in schools and hospitals, in Ghana, with access to potable drinking water.
3.2 Objectives
1. To partner with a registered and FDA-approved filtered water producing company (Everpure Ghana Limited) to produce water for the project.
2. To distribute children in schools and hospitals in peri-urban and rural communities in Ghana with filtered and hygienically packaged drinking water in the form of sachets, paper cups or bottles.
3. To build a water filtering and packaging facility whose core aim will be to continuously provide target schools and hospitals with free access to the clean drinking water produced, while selling out to the general public.
4. Methodology
4.1 Objective 1 (Partnerships):
Partnership with Everpure Ghana Limited who will rebrand the packaged water produced for the purposes of the waterforeveryone project;
• Named, Safe Water for Schools and Hospitals (Safe-WaSH) Mineral Water, it will be produced by Everpure Ghana Limited) – this will be easier for consumers who might want to help sustain continuity of the project to easily identify and patronize water produced specifically for waterforeveryone.
• Packaging: It will be packaged in 370ml (bottle), 500ml (Sachet), 600ml (bottle) and 1.5lt (Bottle). Empty sachets and bottles will be collected for recycling under a program “Initiative Clean Environment” (ICE) to prevent littering of the beneficiary communities.
4.2 Objective 2 (Distribution):
Community entry:
• Establish rapport with key community leaders (chiefs, assemblymen, school heads, and health directors) and the community members in general. This can afford the chance for stakeholders to also contribute ideas on how they can be assisted to have access to clean drinking water.
• Preliminary survey to scout the number of schools (school children) and hospitals in the District or constituency – create a database to enable the project track and monitor what percentage of the community members are beneficiaries, etc.
• Schools on the school feeding program will also be liaised with in order to supply pupils with drinking water during feeding times.
• In order to create awareness of the project and the need for children to have easy access to safe drinking water, community forums and discussions will be held; waterforeveryone branded T-shirts and water storage gallons can be provided to parents and patrons.
Beneficiaries: children in hospitals and schools in peri-urban and rural communities of the Ashanti region. The starting area will be the Bosomtwe District. The schools will be the DA Primary School in Abono Community and Kuntenase. The hospital will be the health center at Nyameani and the district hospital at Kuntenase.
The Bosomtwe District was chosen because it has a natural lake (Lake Bosomtwe) which is dwindling in size. The fringe communities lack access to good, drinkable water and resort to drawing water from the lake.
Access to good, drinkable water in this area will help reduce diseases from the water, the lake and also reduce water drawing from the lake. The people are also receptive and supportive to projects which seek to improve their wellbeing.
Frequency of distribution: biweekly
Duration: Supply from our partner water producing company will last until the facility is put up and is running; for 12-16 months.
Volunteers: These will be sort through calls on the project website and also targeted from tertiary institutions and among the working class. Volunteers will assist with distribution.
4.3 Objective 3 (treated water producing facility)
• Identify and acquire premises or land from custodians. The type of water and the nature of contaminants present in the untreated water source will determine the type of treatment technology that needs to be applied. Thus, an initial analysis of the water to be used must be carried out in order to inform the type of treatment in the facility. Source of water (underground; boreholes)
• Production capacity: One production line will be started to enable efficient running of systems that will be put in place. An estimated quantity of packaged water will be determined during design of the factory.
• Packaging: It will be packaged in 370ml (bottle), 500ml (Sachet), 600ml (bottle) and 1.5lt (Bottle). Empty sachets and bottles will be collected for recycle under a program “Clean Environment Initiative) to prevent littering of the beneficiary communities.
• Source of energy for production: Electricity will be our major source of power. It will be augmented with Solar panels – considering unstable power supply as well as cost of running on electricity from the main grid as against a one-time investment in solar energy). This should help reduce the cost of energy systematically.
• Assignment of total production quota: 50% free to beneficiaries + 50% sell outs. Revenue generated from sell outs will be used to run operations and maintain the facility
• Initial cost is estimated (to be attached soon)
5. Benefits/Anticipated Outcomes
• 500 children access to quality drinking water
• Significant reduction in water-related diseases in children from peri-urban and rural communities
• Employment opportunities
• Skills development through training of operators and technical maintenance agents
6. Support Needed & Costs
1,500 Euros