March 22 is World Water Day, and we have some real successes to celebrate this year.
Our Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) in Schools Project has several goals. In addition to improving bathroom facilities and training the community on maintenance and the importance of practicing bathroom hygiene, WASH also focuses on making safe drinking water accessible to students in rural schools.
Since WASH has initiated, we have partnered with 10 rural schools to improve sanitations facilities, provide drinking water, and train students on the importance of healthy hygiene habits!
Our Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) in Schools Project has several goals. In addition to improving bathroom facilities and training the community on maintenance and the importance of practicing bathroom hygiene, WASH also focuses on making safe drinking water accessible to students in rural schools.
Since WASH has initiated, we have partnered with 10 rural schools to improve sanitations facilities, provide drinking water, and train students on the importance of healthy hygiene habits!
One of these schools is Nueva Vida Primary School. Pablo Eulogio, our WASH Project Coordinator, has been developing and testing water filters made out of coffee grounds (you can read more about this here). We use this filter in the office, and we have just delivered a water filtering system to Nueva Vida Primary School so they can filter tap water into safe drinking water.
"The high temperatures, physical education class, and the overall energy it takes to be a kid leads
students to drink tap water without realizing that it is not safe to do so" said Pablo, "it’s very important to provide students with a safe source of potable water so they can hydrate without getting sick" he added.
Filtering drinking water is especially important in rural communities like the ones we work in. Twenty-one percent of households do not treat water before drinking it.* Outdated infrastructure and limited access to clean running water result in the many risks of drinking contaminated water.
The most common consequence are parasites and diarrheal disease, health problems that often lead to students missing school, and can even lead to death. The UN estimates that globally, nearly 1,000 children a day die due to preventable water and sanitation-related diarrhoeal diseases. Unsafe drinking water, lack of access to clean water, and inadequate sanitation facilities all contribute these losses.
"The high temperatures, physical education class, and the overall energy it takes to be a kid leads
students to drink tap water without realizing that it is not safe to do so" said Pablo, "it’s very important to provide students with a safe source of potable water so they can hydrate without getting sick" he added.
Filtering drinking water is especially important in rural communities like the ones we work in. Twenty-one percent of households do not treat water before drinking it.* Outdated infrastructure and limited access to clean running water result in the many risks of drinking contaminated water.
The most common consequence are parasites and diarrheal disease, health problems that often lead to students missing school, and can even lead to death. The UN estimates that globally, nearly 1,000 children a day die due to preventable water and sanitation-related diarrhoeal diseases. Unsafe drinking water, lack of access to clean water, and inadequate sanitation facilities all contribute these losses.
On this World Water Day, let’s celebrate the successes we’ve made towards ensuring that every child has access to safe drinking water--water that keeps them hydrated, healthy and ready to learn. We at Pueblo a Pueblo promise to continue working with rural communities to create healthy environments for students. Let’s raise a glass to clean drinking water!
*2017 Guatemalan National Institute of Statistics
*2017 Guatemalan National Institute of Statistics
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