top of page

 Water for Four Schools in Tamil Nadu, India

by Peter Coughlan, PhD, Executive Director of WaterBridge Outreach: Books + Water

 

Thanks to the initiative and generosity of students at Holy Names University, Oakland, California, four schools in remote rural areas now have clean drinking water. These four schools are in the State of Tamil Nadu, a part of India that suffers from extremes of floods and drought. In addition, the oppressive heat of many months of the year means the children get very thirsty. Now, for the first time, the children in these schools have their own drinking water.                                                                        (click on images to enlarge)

Water for Four Schools, reverse osmosis systems, school children in india, water for students

These state schools are in four villages that are a considerable distance from one another – Mullipakkam,  Salavankuppam, Ellandoppu, and Arungkundram. Up to now the water that has been available to these schools has been untreated well water, contaminated because of the pesticides and fertilizer used in the fields, and also because so many of the villagers and their animals defecate in or near these open fields. 

Working in collaboration with WaterBridge Outreach, Curt Degler of SAVE Int’l and Sonny Saravanan of TVO (Sonny can be seen below filling water containers from the RO system) have installed small reverse osmosis (RO) systems in each of the schools. These RO systems, which can be seen in the images accompanying this text, remove salt and toxins from the water by using pressure pumps to push the water through membranes that purify it.

Water for Four Schools, reverse osmosis systems, school children in india, water for students
Water for Four Schools, reverse osmosis systems, school children in india, water for students
Water for Four Schools, reverse osmosis systems, school children in india, water for students

The schools were carefully chosen in order to ensure that the equipment stands a good chance of being regularly serviced – the maintenance of the piping, the piping seals, the pressure pumps, and the various filters etc being essential if the water is to be freed from potentially dangerous toxins.  So far things are going well but regular inspections of the RO systems will be necessary.

Water for Four Schools, reverse osmosis systems, school children in india, water for students
Water for Four Schools, reverse osmosis systems, school children in india, water for students

The images accompanying this text show the RO systems in some of the schools, as well as children and teachers. Oakland, California is quite some way from these villages and their schools, but thanks to students at Holy Names University these children have clean water that helps them keep healthy and able to study.

Read Holy Names University's article "Community Helps Provide Clean Water for Four Schools in Tamil Nadu, India" by clicking here. 

​

Published May 2016

​

bottom of page