Every share is a waterdrop
Whether "harvesting water from fog", a drinking water kiosk or 32 filters that clean 3.2 million liters of water - we have already done quite a lot with our GOOD WATER PROJECTS initiative. And actually it wasn't just us alone, but especially you: our community. With your support we have been able to support three great water projects in Madagascar, Tanzania and Kenya over the past few years. Whether it's by taking part in our #WATERLOVER campaign , buying our THE LIMIT ED soaps in collaboration with our friends from Closed or supporting our current SHARE SOME LOVE Christmas campaign - each of your purchases becomes a donation from us. And every donation to the drop.
We thank you for making the world a little better together with us and look forward to giving you an update on our three great water protection projects in our current blog post.
Water kiosk
Clean and safe drinking water is still considered an absolute luxury in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. About two-thirds of the population lives without access to this vital resource.
Every day Mrs. Justine provides our STOP THE WATER WHILE USING ME! Water Kiosk provides their community with clean and safe drinking water. As the operator of the only water kiosk in the vicinity, she is responsible for the distribution, maintenance and sale of the water together with Mrs. Veronique, on whose estate the kiosk was built in 2017. On some days there are 250 people, sometimes even up to 500. It is estimated that up to 20 liters per day are consumed per person – extrapolated up to 10,000 liters per day. Where families used to have to travel long distances to fetch water (which was often contaminated or polluted and had to be filtered at great expense), they have now been getting the water directly from our kiosk for more than a year and a half.
The special thing about this unique system that we finance with the help of our donations: water kiosks are always connected to the municipal water pipes (in this case there is a direct connection to JIRAMA, the national supply network) and thus enable the centrally treated, clean water to flow through is pumped down the lines to the kiosks. That's why they not only promote the expansion of the infrastructure particularly well, they also supply the local people with safe and harmless drinking water on a permanent basis. All residents obtain the water at a subsidized price that is appropriate to their income. In this way, the system can also be self-supporting, because the income generated enables the system to be maintained on an ongoing basis and ensures that the kiosk operators – mostly women – and their employees receive a regular income.
Newly generated donations are used by our partner organization WSUP (Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor) specifically for the expansion of the water network, for example by purchasing special pipes or for the upkeep and maintenance of the kiosk. This is how we ensure that our kiosk will exist over a long period of time and that the network will be further expanded. In Tana alone, our partners have already been able to set up more than 200 kiosks on the basis of donations.
Those who use our STOP THE WATER WHILE USING ME! Water Kiosk can be found in the Fokontany of Morarano in Andoharanofosty.
Drop For Change
Fresh and clean water is also considered a luxury in Kenya. About two thirds of all schools do not have direct access to drinking water. With our project "Drop For Change", founded in 2016, we wanted to change that. Together with our partner organization LifeStraw, we have equipped several schools with special filter systems that filter up to 99.99% of all viruses, bacteria and parasites out of the water with their smart system - without any electricity, batteries or other wearing parts.
32 filter systems. Behind a number that doesn't sound like much at first glance, there are hundreds of thousands of liters of water. Because each individual system filters up to 100,000 liters of water over several years – extrapolated to potentially up to 3.2 million liters. Thanks to the filter systems, we have not only been able to supply almost 2,600 schoolchildren with clean drinking water since 2016, but also to finance appropriate hygiene training. "Since the filtration systems were installed at our school, the number of waterborne diseases has been greatly reduced and our students have saved time by not having to search for clean water anymore," said Julian Waswa, teacher at Eshikufu Primary School in Kenya .
The schools we support are located in Western Kenya, Kakamega County (Mumias Sub County) and each school has between 470 and 680 students. Newly generated donations are used by our partner organization in particular for the maintenance and servicing of the filter systems. In addition, two new filter systems were installed at the Ebubala Primary School this year alone.
Tanzanian Sky Water
Extract water from fog? What sounds a bit crazy at first has inspired us from the start. Because especially in Tanzania there is a lot of fog, but hardly any precipitation - and the water for the population is scarce. The German NGO ped World had the ingenious idea of using special fog nets made in Chile to filter the fine droplets out of the fog – in order to supply entire schools and villages with vital water.
Our double collectors at Quameyu Secondary School in Endabok have been collecting water since 2014. Every single square meter of net "harvests" up to ten liters, on peak days even 20 liters per day - with a standard net of up to 40 square meters, between 200 and 1,000 liters of water can be provided daily. Extrapolated for the year, this results in a figure of potentially 1.46 million liters of water. Can be used immediately and without any filter systems.
With our newly generated donations, we were able to finance the construction of a 20,000 liter tank, which stores the generated water over the long term, even during dry periods. In addition, a toilet house was built for the school that can be operated with the water from the mains and a kitchenette was created in which the school meals are prepared with the fog water collected. In addition, the school building was expanded by three more rooms and more teachers were employed. On site, our partner organization ped World eV also takes care of the maintenance and repair of our collectors, so that we can continue to collect millions of liters of water from the fog in the future.
