Over 600 Kisumu schools receive safe water tanks

Kisumu, Friday May 26, 2023

KNA by Robert Ojwang’/Rolex Omondi

More than 600 schools from Kisumu County have benefited from free quality tanks and water treatment services, courtesy of Impact Water Organization.

The NGO distributed 2,952 units of 100 litres water tanks to the primary and secondary schools in all the 8 sub-counties in the lakeside County in a bid to improve hygiene. 

The noble initiative targeting both public and private learning institutions across the county seeks to address the problem of water-borne diseases, through the provision of clean and safe drinking water to ensure students concentrate on studies.

Lucy Owiti, an official from Impact Water pointed out that many of the school-going children miss learning programs due to constant illness occasioned by lack of safe drinking water.

Speaking during the water tanks distribution exercise in Kisumu East, Owiti stated that the Organization conducts tests on the institutions that benefit from the donation to ascertain they deserve the facilities.

“The available safe water drinking solutions that we offer comprises of water purification methods like Aqua tabs, ultraflo and the inlet systems,” she explained.

She added that some schools had qualified for the Aqua tabs which involve putting a single chlorine tablet in a 100 litres tank recommended for schools without piped water.

“When a school qualify to benefit from the Aqua tabs program, it means that they don’t have tapped water, but mostly use the river, well or rain water in which the flow system cannot be connected to the gutter,” she said.

For institutions with piped water connections and sourced from either water companies, rivers or rainwater, the organization installs the inlet system.

She added that some schools had piped water connections from the water services companies qualifying them for the inlet system, whereby the system is installed on the meter to treat the in-flowing water.

The number of safe water tanks, she reveals, depends on the school’s population with a tank estimated to cover 100 students. Some schools got eight, six, five and three water tanks depending on the number of learners.

In schools, Owiti reveals that they always create awareness to the students and teachers on safe drinking water and hand washing measures.

Defending the Organization’s move to invest in the smaller capacity tanks, Owiti stressed on the need to promote the water quality and hygiene in the tanks.

“The 100-litre tanks are easy to clean compared to 1,000-litre tanks, then you replace fresh water and put tablets after three days on a weekly basis. The bigger ones are cumbersome to wash,’’ she explained.

Immaculate Atieno, a pupil from Mbeme Primary School expressed her joy because she can now get safe water to drink in school and prevent her body from dehydration.

Emmanuel Otieno, Kibos Secondary School Principal lauded the initiative as timely and has helped a great deal in offering safe drinking water solutions to the students and improving the number of hands washing points.

The Organization has so far managed to reach over 32,000 schools in Kenya since its inception in 2013.

 Courtesy ; K. N. A