“Water is the most important natural, economic, life sustaining resource and we must ensure that it is available in abundance to meet the increasing demands. Present and future generations will have assured access to adequate, safe and affordable water to enhance and maintain the quality of their lives and the integrity of natural ecosystems.“
Bhutan Water Vision, 2008
One of our long-term partners, Disaster Aid Australia has been working to provide “Safe Water for Every Child” to children in rural Bhutan over the past year. They have successfully worked in partnership with local organisations the Rotary Club of Thimphu, The Bhutan Toilet Organisation as well as the Bhutan Ministry of Education. The objective is provide safe reliable drinking water to the schools of Bhutan by installing SkyHydrant systems as well as carried out required training.
To date 15SkyHydrant installations have been completed now and tests have shown encouraging results. Water quality tests indicate significant improvement and school attendance has increased considerably. There are over 240 schools in the Kingdom that require safe water. DAA is working to achieve a target where every child in rural Bhutan has access to safe water at school.
As part of the Safe Water Bhutan 2020 project, the Disaster Aid Australia team carried out training in Tsirang, Bhutan during August. The training was attended by participants ranging from senior engineers to school caretakers and
included water quality, planning an installation and operating a SkyHydrant system with hands-on components for the teams to get a better understanding of the practical problems of installations. To ensure an effective training as well as a meaningful project overall, Department of Education Officials and Sonam Tshering of Druk Water Solutions were engaged in assisting with translations.
The level of discussion and questions made by the participants demonstrated a keen interest and commitment to the project and gave the team on-ground an encouraging indication of successful outcomes.
On the basis of the success of Safe Water Bhutan 2020 to date, a new target was adopted at the Disaster Aid Australia board meeting in May this year, Safe Drinking Water for EVERY Rural School in Bhutan. This ambitious project will require them to raise $1,000,000 over the next 2 years. If you or your organisation can help, please contact Disaster Aid Australia today.
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