Report: Clean Water for 16 Schools in Corail, Haiti

This project provided hygiene education, clean water filters, water testing, monitoring and follow up for 16 schools in the Corail commune. Teachers were trained to teach students proper hygiene and sanitation as well.

Corail residents on the mainland have two limited water sources of poor quality and no treatment system in place. Bio Sand filters in the schools will give students access to safe water and greatly reduce disease. The intervention also includes hygiene and basic sanitation components, which will empower these schools in Corail through education and training in essential preventive public health measures such as hand-washing.

There was a delay in the start of this project as the transportation of filters and materials to Corail was difficult to arrange. A boat is needed to get to this Corail. Arrangements fell though a few times and the boat that was arranged to transport materials was in need of repairs.

The January earthquake also caused a delay as our project staff was greatly affected. Immediately following the earthquake they helped others at clinics, installed water filters, and shortly after started delivering water to 80,000 people a day in Port au Prince and Cite Soleil.

13 schools were indicated in the proposal however PWW was able to serve 16 schools because three of the sites are shared by two different schools. One uses the building in the am and the other in the pm. The schools have separate teachers/administration/enrollments. They just share the same building.

By teaching proper hygiene and sanitation practices, this ensures that the health of these children is bettered for years to come, thus making a sustainable project. Also included is filter monitoring and random water testing to ensure that the filters are being used properly.

Teacher training commenced shortly after the filters were delivered. Teachers or principals from each school must attend the 2.5 training which covers hygiene education, sanitation and filter maintenance. Once the teachers past the exam at the end of the training Pure Water was able to give them their hygiene training materials. These teachers are now teaching proper hygiene and sanitation methods to their students.

The challenges of the project included the post earthquake disruption of virtually all services in Haiti. This project was scheduled to be done in February 2010 but was delayed due to the overwhelming difficulties after the quake and the complete absorption of all PWW resources for emergency relief in PAP. Many seacraft were destroyed during the quake making it very difficult to secure services of a boat to make the trip and to do so at a reasonable cost. The cost of all services in PAP soared in the months after the quake as demand greatly outweighed supply.

Further challenges included the extreme remoteness and difficulty getting to both areas. The journey involved a three day boat trip to transport the filters to Jeremie, Haiti. Then the filters were transported to 8 hrs to Corail. There is no ground transportation available in either location so the filters were loaded onto wagons and wheelbarrows at the beach and transported by foot. The terrain was rough, steep and the filters each weigh 300 lbs without the sand making it very difficult. It was also a challenge to securely store the materials in Corail and to find local laborers to assist in the land transport of the materials.