WASH Awareness Campaign

EMW attended the Salalek 5 Primary school, and conducted WASH awareness / education activities for approximately 70 children to celebrate world water day. EMW conducted a sand filter construction exercise, which is based on a program that Engineers Without Borders use in schools in New Zealand and Australia to raise awareness about clean water. It involves the students constructing a mini water filter in a plastic bottle, the students receive pretend money to buy materials and then construct and test the filters. During the testing a group of students started singing a handwashing song that they had learnt. Some students demonstrated good handwashing techniques, and EMW explained about the importance of good hygiene, sanitation and clean water. The students really enjoyed the activity and there was a happy and excited atmosphere.
EMW inspected the water systems; there are a few minor issues at the schools, EMW will work with the schools and contractors to rectify these problems.

Please refer to attached report for further information.

• KH-2013-...

EMW Board Members Visit

EMW board members visited three schools in Kampong Chhnang, the first school was Soramarith High School where we met the two school vice directors, and asked many questions regarding the school water supply, school system and university scholarships. We observed the solar system and IV explained the project to the board members. IV and Chris met with the school director, who expressed his gratitude and pride of the system.

The second school was Salalek 5 Primary School, where we met the school director and school water committee member and inspected the new system installed there. The school thanked EMW for facilitating this project and expressed interest in improving the sanitation situation if EMW can find additional funding. IV explained the clean water project.

The third school was Hun Sen High School and Kampong Tralach Secondary School where we met the school director and some school teachers. The teachers answered many questions and IV explained the school water project.

Please refer to attached report for further information.

• KH-2013-...

Water Quality and Additional Filters

Two additional filters were installed at each school. EMW provided guidance on configuration and installation of filters. The installation was completed by SCV staff. SCV provided two filters at the primary school and EMW purchased two additional filters for the high school.
We collected water samples from the well and at the furthest tap at each school. The samples were taken to RDI laboratories for testing.

Please refer to attached report for further information.

• KH-2013-...

Monitoring and Improvement Site Visit

Inspected water supply systems at both schools.
We were unable to fully inspect the system at the primary school, as the tank had been emptied to water flowers and the taps were not installed when we arrived. The tank was filled for two hours and the taps installed, a reasonable flow was present at the first tap. We will return to inspect again. The teachers were requested to prioritize the water for the students to drink and if sufficient water available it can then be used for watering plants, the school could purchase an additional tank if required to store water for watering plants.
At the secondary and high school the system was operational and students some students were drinking the water. Some students indicated that they had not been informed that they could drink the water. We plan to hold an awareness raising activity once the system is completed. The flow to the taps was acceptable if used individually, however, when several taps were used together the flow reduced and stopped. We will investigate installing additional water filters to improve the flow rate.

Please refer to attached field trip report for further details.

• KH-2013-...

Construction Improvements

Schools are happy with the systems, some modifications are required to improve systems. The filters at the primary school will be relocated within the office building for security, monitoring and maintenance. The high school and secondary school have received an additional 2 filters from SCV and will monitor the flow rates from the taps. East Meets West will inspect the system again once modifications have been completed.

Please refer to attached report for further information.

• KH-2013-...

Construction Completion

Solar pump and pipework installed and are functioning. Some modifications are required to improve the system. Contractors will resolve minor issues outlined in the detailed activity report. East Meets West will follow up and re-inspect site when work is completed. East Meets West will investigate options to improve water flow rates and pressure in pipeline.

Please refer to attached report for further information.

• KH-2013-...

Construction Supervision

Water management committee members from both schools were trained in managing and maintaining the water pipe and solar pump system. The water management committee members cooperated with and supported the contractors throughout the construction works.

During the construction work (preparation for pipe installation) at Salalek 5 Primary School, the existing well collapsed. The school director paid to drill a new well approximately 1.5m from the existing (collapsed) well. Both schools also funded boxes to protect the solar water pumps, and the primary school installed security fences around the solar panels.

By the end of 26 December 2012, the solar pumping systems were completely installed and functioning well, but the pipe system are still in progress and is expected to be completed the following week.

Please refer to attached report for further information.

• KH-2012-...

Pre Construction Meeting

We attended the two schools with the solar pump and pipe distribution suppliers and the school teachers. The purpose of the visit was to discuss the details of the construction work to ensure all parties agreed with the design and can work together effectively. We made some modifications to the design to ensure the teachers were happy with the system. The contractors worked together very well and were very accommodating in revising the designs to achieve the best solution.

Please refer to attached report for further information.

• KH-2012-...

Meeting with SCV to discuss collaboration

Discussed SCV's work in Kampong Chhnang, and how we can work together to improve the system for school water supply at the project sites. They are happy to collaborate with us, and will discuss modifications to the system with their designers in Singapore. Please refer to attached meeting notes for further information.

• KH-2012-...

Water Sampling

At the primary school the teacher informed us that the existing (unused) well near the northern building was drilled for water quality testing by another NGO in 2008. The well is approximately 60m deep, but the school doesn’t know anything about the water quality testing results. The school currently uses another shallow well (approximately 15m deep) which is pumped to an elevated storage tank using a portable diesel pump. The water is filtered by two small membrane filters located in the office building and drinking water is available at two taps, one inside and the second outside the office. The filters and tank were installed by SCV social enterprise in 2011. A second well, approximately 24m deep located near the water tank, has a hand pump and is currently used for non-drinking purposes (i.e. watering flowers). We collected a sample from this well for testing.
The secondary school has a similar set up, provided by the SCV social enterprise, a shallow well is connected to the water tank with 3 filters to provide drinking water, again with only 2 taps for students near the office buildings. The collapsed well has not yet been re-drilled, therefore we were unable to collect a sample.

Please refer to attached report for further information.

• KH-2012-...

Study Tour

Successful meeting with the school directors to discuss the project, we conducted a study tour to 3 schools in Kampong Chhnang. The school directors were very happy with the visit, they appreciated the study tour and felt able to make an informed decision about their water supply. The schools preferred the system at Soramarith School, they gave the following reasons for this preference:
1. the reliability of supply, there was concern about the rainwater harvesting not being sufficient for water supply during the dry season
2. solar powered pumping, so not requirement for student / teachers to pump the water manually

More investigations are required at schools to confirm the design, particularly regarding existing water supply. The school has an existing water tank and some filters located in the school directors building, with one tap available for students to drink from.

The groundwater well at school is not drilled to correct depth, IV was onsite for the drilling, but left site before the plastic tubes had been installed, the well may have collapsed. The drilling company will be contacted to investigate.

Please refer to attached document for further information.

• KH-2012-...

Test Well Success, Now Value Engineering

After assembling a team of test well engineers and working closely with school officials, EMW worked onsite to ensure that access to a local (onsite) clean water source met the 10 basic parameters by the Department of Health. Further, EMW analyzed the results of the water to ensure that appropriate adjustments to the water filter system is made to save both costs, increase efficiency of usage. Next step is to work with the local school leaders to draft an operations and maintenance plan, provide training as well as continue to work with engineers to complete installation of the drinking water system.