Water Blogged

Serving 224 students in Uganda’s Muyenje community as a private boarding and day school for primary and nursery students, Sir Nimrod Infant & Junior School relied on water from a traditional well but continually found its needs unmet.

The spring is shared with 5 other schools and multiple households, meaning students would often miss class due to the 35-minute trip. While fetching, students had to cross a busy road and face the possibility of wild animals, mugging, or even sexual assault. The water from the spring itself is unsafe and must be boiled, taking valuable time and resources. In order to protect the health of students and redeem critical classroom time, Sir Nimrod Infant & Junior School was in need of a rainwater collection system that would provide safe water for drinking, handwashing, and more.

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 19 staff, serving 220 students at the time of project installation
– Previously, students and staff fetched from ⁠an off-site borehole well
– By bringing a rainwater collection system to facility grounds, we estimate that you eliminated up to 20.91 miles of walking and 66.67 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 Richmond Sailfish in CA for supporting this project: