The rural Governemnt Schools in Puducherry are well connected with drinking water sources. However, the water provided needs to be filtered to avoid water borne diseases. The School children needs awareness on the importance of hand wash and hygenic drinking water. This project aims to provide these two components.

Siphon Water Filter was successfully installed in the earlier projects implemented by Ekoventure in Schools, Anganvadis, libraries and Primary Health Centres in the villages of Villupuram and Tanjore Districts, Tamilnadu and in Puducherry. The water purified using the water filter was tested for bacteriological analysis and in comparison with the unpurified water collected from the same source of Rope pumps installed in Villupuram district. The Total Coliforms (MPN – Index/100ml) was between 460 and >1100 and the Faecal Coliforms (MPN – Index/100ml) was between 9 and 14 in the untreated water samples and the population was absent in the case of filtered water.

Awareness meetings on the need of safe water will be conducted in all the 7 Schools.

Each School will be provided with two nos of Siphon Filter units consisting of one Siphon water filter, one plastic drum with lid and tap, two glass tumblers .

The staff of the School will be trained on the day-to-day maintenance of the water filter.

The field staff of Ekoventure will monitor the usage of water filter and report in the Weekly review meetings.

In one phase

The Water Filters to be installed in the Schools will be owned and maintained by the School authorities .

The School administration will be motivated to bear the costs related to the maintenance and replacement of filters.

Water filters/purifiers are not provided to Schools in Puducherry. Based on the request of the School administration, the water filters will be provided to the Schools. The School authorities will be involved in the maintenance of the water filters and in organising "Hand Wash" programmes.