The 196 students and staff of Mwaasua Primary School and the 122 students and staff of Makaalu Secondary School, in Wamunyu, 112 km east of Nairobi, Kenya, have had to travel long distances daily to fill buckets of water from streams. Not only was that water not clean, leading to illness, the water collection took significant time and energy to collect. Both challenges took students and teachers away from receiving and providing education. The two schools told the staff of Kenya Connect about the need to collect uncontaminated rainfall in tanks right at the schools. Kenya Connect ensures rural children, from these two schools and 69 others in Kenya, leave education with options, by developing the skills, values and pathways to thrive by partnering with students, teachers and parents at 71 schools in rural Machakos and Kitui counties of Kenya.
The Rotary Club of Tsawwassen, working with Kenya Connect, has contributed $4,692 for the water tanks project, $3,128 from the club and $1,564 from The Rotary Foundation through a grant for Rotary District 5040.
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Under the direction of Kenya Connect, local masons and plumbers installed the water tanks, known as "Kentanks", which are made from recycled plastic and are locally made in Kenya at Kentainers Company Limited. They have have a 30 year warranty, are made from food grade polyethylene and are very strong due to the corrugated design. The tanks are constructed as one-piece moulding with no joints and are therefore leak-proof. Each tank carries a Rotary logo. Staff at the schools have been trained to provide maintenance of the tanks.
As part of the project, each tank has a protective shelter made from metallic posts and will have a timber roof with corrugated metal. These shelters will protect the water tanks from the adverse effects of the sun. To collect the rainwater, gutters have been installed on the roof of an adjacent building and the harvested rain water will be directed to the tank. A sieve is connected at the point of water entry.
The water tanks are now installed and have been collecting rainwater in 10,000-litre tanks during the heavy rainfall part of the year, one tank at each school. The collected water is providing the schools with much needed drinking and cooking water on site.
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