from HASSAN ONYANGO in Kampala, Uganda
Uganda Bureau
KAMPALA, (CAJ News) – THOUSANDS of schoolchildren in Uganda now have access to clean water following an intervention by The Global Uplift Project (TGUP), a United States nonprofit.
This is under its Clean Water for Africa (CWA) programme.
It is providing World Health Organisation (WHO)-standard water purity to schools in Uganda for US$0,53 per student per year.
More than 10 000 students at the 23 participating schools now have that access.
Water quality testing was conducted at the Ndejje National University Water Research and Development Centre in Kampala.
The CWA programme has been piloted at 23 schools in Kampala, Luwero, Mukono and Wakiso.
TGUP was assisted in this effort by its Ugandan partner, the Nsawo Community Development Project (NCDP).
The TGUP/NCDP programme uses a “point-of-service” approach, which avoids the high cost of centralised water treatment facilities and their hub-and-spoke networks of pipes to deliver clean water. It utilises water purification technology developed by the Netherlands-based Sensiblue company.
Robert Freeman, Founder and Executive Director of TGUP, said, “Clean water is the first imperative of all development efforts. Without it, even with the best of intentions, nothing else works.”
A single Sensiblue installation, including filters, plumbing, a security enclosure and dispensing fittings, costs US$1 500, according to TGUP.
Yearly maintenance, which amounts to changing filters and replacing salt, costs US$84 per year.
“It’s remarkably inexpensive for the single most important commodity in human life: water. Comparable systems using ultraviolet light or thermal treatment cost more than ten times the TGUP/Sensiblue system,” Freeman stated.
TGUP is a California-based nonprofit that provides educational infrastructure for the developing world. This includes classrooms, libraries, science laboratories, kitchens, latrines and playgrounds.
It has completed more than 700 of these projects in 26 developing-world nations.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, more than 2 billion people drink contaminated water every year. More than 1 million die from it.
– CAJ News