May 2023
Gwanda, Zimbabwe
In the aftermath of the local water treatment facility shutting down, the ideal solution take into account that the current water supply comes from boreholes, surface water, and limited piped infrastructure; thus, the DrinkPure's ability to scale ensures that where the water is coming from, it can easily be purified using our intuitive technology. In partnership with the Educational Trust Foundation, we aim to implement our technology in the Summer of 2023.
Educational Trust Foundation
We proudly delivered our first DrinkPure 15 to the Educational Trust Foundation in order to bring clean drinking water to the people of Gwanda, Zimbabwe! After seeing our posts on Instagram about the DrinkPure's adaptability and success, the Educational Trust Foundation reached out to us to discuss implementation of our technology in Gwanda. In 2022, the company managing the city's water treatment left without notifying the community, leaving the city of Gwanda with full responsibility and zero training.
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After speaking with the local Outreach Coordinator, Mr. Sikholiwe Sibanda – head of the Education Trust Foundation, we were excited to know that our system would be perfect for their needs. Before the DrinkPure 15 was brought to Gwanda, the people of Gwanda face chronic stomach pain and sickness due to the city's polluted water.
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With the minimal cost of the DrinkPure, the benefit of solving the issue at hand is overwhelming.
Our Work
The local water treatment plant is subject to power outages that frequent the town, which negates any treatment, which is compounded by the lack of maintenance the area is able to afford for the plant. In May of 2023, Clean Water Project member David Byrne flew to Gwanda, Zimbabwe in order to deliver the first two systems to Mount Cazalet Primary School and Jahunda Primary School, the largest schools in the area. We stayed with Sikho for the duration of our trip in order to keep costs down and experience life in Gwanda. The first day we were there, there was no power or running water. When the power does come on, which is about ¼ of the time, buckets of water are filled. These buckets of water are used for everything from flushing toilets, to cooking, to drinking.
In the center of town, there are stores where you can buy bottled water, but on local salaries this is not sustainable. In order to bath, we boiled water in the morning on a propane tank and used a towel and soap to wipe ourselves clean. Sikho showed us around the town, and on the second day we visited Mount Cazalet, the first of two schools we delivered a system to. We met with the staff, and demonstrated the system, to which they were extremely grateful. It was a blessing to see all the children that we were trying to help; after about an hour, the entire demonstration was complete. The following day we delivered the second system to Jahunda Primary School, where we had a wonderful reception.
Success
Having delivered both DrinkPures, and ensured that they were operating correctly, we had accomplished our mission, with several days to spare. Together with Sikho, we discussed future plans to deliver DrinkPure systems to the rural schools, whom would phenomenal use out of our systems. We learned of the need to modify our systems to be able to generate their own power by attaching solar panels to the sides, part of our efforts to continuously improve our systems. By attaching solar panels to the sides of our systems, we will be able to deliver systems to rural areas that have no power whatsoever.
We plan to deliver at least four more systems to Gwanda for these outlying schools, with built in solar capability. This will provide pathogen free water for hundreds of more school children, and raise the quality of life for these communities.