Drinking Water School Ban Tja Luai

Dutch Foundation “HOAT” started to install rainwater harvesting systems in Thai schools in September 2007. So far 4 schools are equipped and around 1000 children have access to safe drinking water at their schools. Children drink collected rainwater witch stands still for months in large concrete tanks and which is full of pathogenic bacteria. The system we place cleans the water and kills pathogenic bacteria. 20% of the system is imported from The Netherlands and has been tested extensively. 80 % is produced locally. Tests in the working field in Thailand until now show the water stays clean and free of pathogenic bacteria. Teachers state that fewer children get sick since the systems are installed. We aim to provide 10 schools with the system in 2009. After this we aim at scaling up “from projects to program“.

Goals overview

-To provide around 200 children with clean and safe drinking water.
-To make them (and the teachers and villagers) aware of the importance and necessity of access to safe drinking water.
-To teach them about the dangers of using dirty water and the consequences of drinking contaminated water.
-To create an economically sustainable system with "extension" to surrounding houses and villages.
Project for 1 school is part of "moving to a program".

Current status

Project plan

Thai school roofs have a very large surface which makes them perfect for rainwater harvesting. Rainwater harvesting has been common practice in Thailand for as long people can remember and is a very familiar way of collecting drinking water. However, the quality of the water is very bad by the time people start drinking it. The water contains a lot of pathogen bacteria’s such as ecoli and coliform that cause diseases.

The rainwater collected at the schools is stored in large concrete tanks. The tanks are not sealed well; so small animals are able to get into the tanks. We saw maggots, mosquito larvae’s, cockroaches and even lizards floating around in the tanks. Together with the dirt from the gutters and the droppings of birds and cats that flush down from the roof, it makes the so called “drinking water” a very dangerous mixture.
Children drink straight from these tanks by opening a small faucet close to the bottom of the tanks. In order to have safe drinking water at the end, we should start with the beginning, the place where the water enters the tanks. It's also very important that we collect and store as much water as possible to survive the 7 month dry season. To do so we will renew all gutters and rainwater pipes that are leading to the concrete tanks. The next step is reparation of the concrete tanks, as the tanks are often cracked and leaking. The lids of the tanks are renewed with fortified concrete when necessary.

The manholes on top are completely sealed of so no animals can get in. We install a whole new underground piping system, leading to the enclosure where the filters are situated. The filters are based on an established technology that uses silver-coated balls to kill all pathogenic bacteria. The filter system is called a “rain purification center” and was developed by a Dutch company named “Aquaest Europe” which is specialized in rainwater harvesting systems.

Once the water has passed the filters it is clean and safe to drink. The water is collected in a clean water buffer tank which also contains a floater with silver-coated balls. An attractive drinking place is situated close to the clean water tanks where the children can tap their cup of safe water. Faucets we use are self-closing so no water will be spilled. Next to the faucets that deliver safe water, a green smiley sticker is put which makes it clear for even little children to understand that this is the right place to get their drinking water. Faucets that don’t deliver clean water are marked wit a red sad face sticker to make it clear to the children that this water is not safe. A poster is placed at the wall above the drinking place which shows with drawings what the meaning of the stickers is.

Test results at schools that already have the clean water system show that the water in the clean water tanks stays free of pathogenic bacteria; principals of those schools confirm fewer children get sick.

Other results:
-Lower number of ill children in the area.
- Growing awareness of health benefits in surrounding villages by spreading the word.
- Providing local unemployed villagers with construction, maintenance and “extension“ jobs.

By placing 6 goats at the schoolyard we generate finance for maintenance. Their offspring will be sold by HOAT and this money will be used to replace the filter cartridges when necessary. Other ideas of the school’s principal and teachers to generate money to replace the cartridges will be considered as they show up.
HOAT stays in control of the system and the school’s principal signs an agreement in which he declares to cooperate with HOAT in order to keep the system functioning.
Small maintenance of the system will be carried out by the school caretaker.
HOAT will be able to perform maintenance that the school is not able to take care of. HOAT will continue to monitor the school’s system which is possible by having “HOAT people” present in the area. 4 schools have been equipped already and more will follow, creating multiplying and effects, and also ensuring sustainibility.