The Abundant Water team in Timor-Leste has installed new water filters in 2 more schools in Ermera municipality, with the help of the generous Australian Ethical Investments Grant. The grant, which Abundant Water received last year, is helping to bring clean water to 10 schools around Timor-Leste, aiming to benefit thousands of teachers and students.
The first school, ESG Helio Sances, is situated around 3 hours from Dili. Despite recently installing a new water system, which has been functioning since January, subsequent tests found that the school’s water supply was contaminated. Following the tests, surveys with the students at the school found that 2/3 did not trust the water directly from the tap. For this reason, Helio Sances’ Director, Eduardo Martins (pictured below), was very enthusiastic about the new filter installations, which now reach approximately 500 of the school’s students.
Pictured above: Eduardo Martins thanks AW for its contribution
In early March, the Abundant Water team visited the second school of this phase of installations, EBC 10 de Abril de 99 of Gleno. Upon visiting the school, the team found that nearly 50% of students bought bottled water several times a week. This is a huge expense for families of the district and demonstrates some of the sustainability challenges that developing countries like Timor-Leste face.
After installing 12 filters, the school’s principal found that the student’s filter use reduced plastic consumption and waste on school grounds.
Abundant Water looks forward to continuing its work with the two schools and their wider communities in order to establish local vendor-run filter businesses.
