In 2002, the Thailand Water Filtration Project was a mere 'drip' of an idea. To understand the water problem, its size and the potential solutions, 4 Rotarians from RC of Canberra East (Australia) visited the rural areas of the Ubon province with the host partner club, RC of Ubon. During this research visit we realized were dealing with a crucial problem and it was BIG. The risk of unclean water to the health of the children was apparent. So with children and their health as our focus, a decision was made to install industrial size water filtration equipment on the grounds of the schools.
In 2003 we commenced what became a 3 stage project. Each stage corresponding to a Rotary Year and completed under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Thai Department of Education:
- Stage 1 - 03-04
- Stage 2 - 04-05
- Stage 3 - 05-06
- Monitoring Program 06-07
The decision to commence another stage was only agreed at the end of the previous stage. This provided clubs with the flexibility to align their international goals with their Club's possible changing goals/directions.
The goals of the project were to:-
raise the quality level of the drinking water to acceptable health standards for local school children
provide water filtration units into schools. (Schools to be selected on the basis of need and also their ability to maintain the
systems.)
Train staff to maintain the system.
In stages 2 and 3 of the project we broadened the goals to include water hygiene, healthy living and English language improvement through the provision of education materials.
For each stage -
Rotary was responsible for providing the water filtration unit
The school and community was responsible for providing the supporting infrastructure
Matching Grants were received from the Rotary Foundation to support the funds and materials provided by Clubs and
Sponsors.
Rotarians from the Project Partner Clubs visited each school to review the installation and formally hand it over to the Department of Education and school/community.
In each succeeding Rotary year since 2002 the energy and motivation to expand the project grew. More clubs joined the project so that by 2006-07 we were seven (7) small - medium size clubs from four (4) districts and three (3) continents:
Ubon - Thailand
Canberra East, Queanbeyan, Canberra, Rockdale City, Kogarah - Australia
Marietta Metro - Georgia, USA
Project Outline
The project has three main parts -
- School Selection Process,
- Sustainability of the project, and
- Project management.
School Selection Process
A formal selection process to select recipient schools was completed. This qualification process ensured the community understood this was a serious undertaking by Rotary and that participation required an equal commitment by the school and village community.
All government schools with student populations of approximately 300 or more and outside the city of Ubon were written to and invited to participate in the project.
1. First, we had to select the schools at which the filtration equipment would be placed. Scientific testing of water samples confirmed whether the water from the school was in the scope of the capability of the filtration system.
2. Secondly, the Rotary Club of Ubon inspected each applicant school and interviewed the staff to determine the attitude of the school and community to commit to maintaining a system.
Some of the things the schools had to demonstrate included:-
a. providing staff to be trained to maintain the system.
b. Allocating a budget for any future maintenance of the system.
c. Commitment to provide the supporting infrastructure
3. After the recipient schools were selected, the installation process began. This was in two parts:-
a. The school and community building the drinking fountains and secure storage for the filter system.
b. The supplier installing the water filtration system.
Sustainability
The estimated life of a well maintained water filtration system is 10 years.
As the project grew exponentially it was clearly recognized that it would be impossible for Rotary to have the dedicated resources to sustain the project and it was agreed Rotary should not take on this task. So the sustainability issue was addressed in three ways:-
- School and village community representatives being trained in how to maintain the systems
- Transferring the management of the project to the Ministry of Health - Ubon province
- Developing a monitoring program.
Training
Each school as a condition of accepting a water filtration system had to commit to having members of its staff/community trained in the maintenance required for the system.
This training will be ongoing under the monitoring program.
Future management of the project
The Rotary Project Partners, under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), transferred the responsibility for managing the project to the Ministry of Health - Ubon (MOH) province effective from 1 June 2007.
This MOU is operative through to 2010. From 2010 it is expected that schools will maintain the systems to the high levels required as per their normal routines and not require constant overseeing.
Monitoring Program
Under the monitoring program the MOH acts as both the conductor and co-ordinator of activities.
- The MOH will visually inspect the water filtration systems at least twice per year and supervise any required repairs.
- The MOH will co-ordinate in conjunction with University of Ubon Ratchatani, at least once per year, the independent
testing of water from each filtration system.
- The MOH will report to the RCU by 1 May each year the condition of each water filtration system. The report will contain
a completed checklist and photograph of each filtration system.
- The MOH will be responsible for conducting re-fresher training programs at least once per year in every school for staff
and community members.
- The MOH staff will participate, at least yearly, in training programs with the filter system supplier to maintain current
knowledge of water filter maintenance techniques.
The Project Partners conducted a formal inspection of all schools in May 2007 to provide the baseline for the MOH to measure against. This is collated in the Thailand Water Filtration Project - Quality Report May 2007.
To assist with this future measurement a reporting template has been prepared.
Project Management
The project operated a Partnership Agreement.
The agreement between the clubs focused on participation. A financial contribution was only one criterion. Each club needed to be prepared to get their hands 'wet' so to speak that is get involved…
The agreement clarified who was responsible for what aspects of the project to ensure tasks were completed on time and ensured that knowledge was shared among us. (include a link to partnership agreement - file on CD)
Filter Description - technical
A water filtration system has the capacity to filter approx 1000-1500 litres of water per day.
The system requires standard electricity to drive the pump.
Water only moves through the system when the pump is on. The pump is only on when children drink the filtered water from the drinking fountains - ie as the water is required. It does not run 24 x 7 thereby increasing the lifespan of the pump.
The untreated water flows through the 2 stainless steel tanks filtering out the larger impurities.
It then moves the small unit to filter out finer impurities.
Finally it passes through a set of ceramic filters in the bell shaped unit to remove bacterial impurities.
In stage 3 of the project a Project Partner contributed $US1950. For this amount the Project Partner received:-
- Fully installed and operational water filtration unit
- Training of maintenance staff
- Education/sporting materials
- Participation on the review inspection program
Project Achievement - statistical
The following table summarizes the statistics associated with the project.
No of Filters installed 46 Stage 1 = 5
Stage 2 = 10
Stage 3 = 31
School children who daily access filtered water >23,000
Adults who have access to filtered water >60,000 Estimate of Community population =. 160,000
An estimate of 40 % who access the filtered water
Estimated Total of people who can access filtered water >80,000
