March 2021 | As previously announced, in our tradition of giving back to others for our Christmas charity project, we supported an organization in providing villagers in India with clean drinking water and improving their health.
UPDATE: Christmas Charity 2020
Construction of a Water Treatment Plant in India
Construction of a Water Treatment Plant in India
We partnered up with ASSIST, an Indian NGO working for the development of poor and marginalised communities in rural areas, to partake in the construction of a water treatment plant with reverse osmosis technology that supplies 1,000 liters of clean drinking water per hour to a population of 2,860 villagers in Malyavanthunipadu, India.
As an essential part of the Sustainable Development Goals, clean water and sanitation is an important factor for a variety of areas. Collecting water is widely considered a woman’s job, with women and girls being responsible for this task in 80% of households without access to drinking water. This leads to girls dropping out of school to support their families by travelling great distances to collect clean water. One in three people worldwide don’t have access to drinking water that can be considered safe, according to the United Nations. Furthermore, sanitation and hygiene plays an imperative part in fighting and preventing diseases and transmission of viruses, such as COVID-19.
For the last years, the village’s drinking water supply through bore wells has been contaminated by excess fluoride which led to skeletal fluorosis and related diseases in the population. With the consumption of this water, the villagers were not able to continue their field work at an early age due to skeletal and dental fluorosis.
The successful supply of clean water through the newly installed water treatment plant implemented with contribution by s::can has an immediate impact on the health of the villagers. The responsibility for the utilisation and maintenance of the water treatment plant was entrusted to Village Development Society and two village youth were trained by the supplier on the proper utilisation and maintenance of the plant.
We want to thank everyone involved in this project!
For further information about ASSIST, visit www.assist-india.org.