This grant will build two water systems on Lake Victoria, Kenya. Each system will provide clean drinking water for a community of about 2,500. This is a pilot project for a simple, inexpensive, community owned and community entrepreneur operated system. The budget is $64,000.
This will be a Rotary Global Grant Project of the Rotary Club of Downtown Los Angeles, the Rotary Club of Suna Migori, Kenya and other partner organizations.
BACKGROUND
Most residents in this area make their living from subsistence agriculture and fishing. There is some tourism, small hotels, and other small businesses. There is no major industry or employer.
Most people get their water directly from Lake Victoria. This is contaminated with water borne parasites and diseases. In a study of eight primary schools, 79.1% of the children were infected with Schistosoma, 6.1% had hookworm, 5.2% had Trichuris Trichiura and 2.3% had Ascaris lumbricoides. A supply of clean water and hygiene training will largely eliminate all of these.
Good hygiene is not widely practiced due to lack of clean water and ignorance of good practices. Open defecation is common, which contaminates the lake and spreads parasites and disease.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
This project will reduce the practice of drinking unsafe water from Lake Victoria by providing a clean water system and ongoing public health education.
The Rotary Clean Water System will belong to the community and will be located at a community owned school or dispensary. The system will be managed by an existing community organization. The revenue from water sales will pay for maintenance, a Community Health Provider, community benefits and support a future system in another nearby community.
The system will be located near the lake at a location selected by the community. The community will provide the labour to dig and backfill the pipe trenches and provide raw materials.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND BUSINESS MODEL
This project will build the water system, train the entrepreneurs, train the Community Health Provider and provide 12 months of ongoing support by Aqua Clara Kenya.
Each system will extract raw water from the lake with a solar powered pump and pump the raw water to two elevated 10,000 liter tanks. The raw water will then be filtered through micropore filters located in a water kiosk by gravity. The clean water will be dispensed directly from a Water ATM. The capacity of each system will be 20,000 L per day.
The water system and kiosk will be owned by the community. The operator will be a community- based youth or woman's group.They will manage and maintain the system using the revenue from the sale of water. The community will be charged an affordable amount for their water. Similar systems in this area charge between 5 and 10 KSH per 20 liter (this is $.05 to $.10 per 5 gallons). The system will provide the school or dispensary with enough free water for their requirements.
The WASH committee will use the profits to pay the Community Health Promoter, for community services and to fund the establishment of another water system at a nearby community. The community will "Pay it forward" to other nearby communities.
ROLE OF THE COMMUNITY HEALTH PROMOTER (CHP)
The CHP plays a critical role in the success of this project. The CHP will promote the use of clean water and other good sanitation practices. This will increase the use water and thus increase the profitability and sustainability of the station as well as improving the health of the community.
The project will train 5 CHP's for each system and pay them a monthly stipend for 12 months. At the end of 12 months one CHP will be selected for a permanent position to be paid from the sales of water.
ROLE OF AQUA CLARA KENYA (ACK)
A key partner in this project is ACK. ACK is a non-profit, entrepreneur, based organization based in Kenya. It is a technology transfer NGO providing science-based technologies that utilize locally available materials where possible to provide simple, affordable, and local clean water solutions. ACK will supply and install the technology consisting of the filters and plumbing from the water tanks to the dispensing faucets. They will train the entrepreneurs in business and system maintenance. They will train the CHP and provide ongoing support to the CHP and entrepreneur for 12 months.
PARTICIPANTS / COOPERATING ORGANIZATIONS
We have verbal commitments to participate from several organizations. These include Badilisha Eco Village, Homa Bay County Ministries of Public Health, Education and Water Services, National Government-Constituency Development Fund-CDF, Transform International and Aqua Clara Kenya.
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