Clean, Safe Drinking Water For Children In India

In partnership with the Rotary Club of Shri Jagannath Dham in Puri, India, and World Family Foundation, an Ojai based non-profit, the Rotary Club of Ojai funded the purchase and installation of 2 commercial grade drinking water purification systems for Prashanti School’s residential children’s home and day school.

 

Prashanti Preschool Chitasalis (PS) is a non-profit residential children’s home in a poor village area outside the city of Puri, India. The program provides free housing, food, clothing, medical care, education and daily tutoring to approximately forty children from extremely impoverished backgrounds. The children are cared for by a staff of twelve adults, and 6 tutors who also live and/or work at the school. The main support for the children comes from sponsorships and donations managed by World Family Foundation (www.worldfamilyfnd.org).

 

Prashanti International School (PIS) is the day school and provides a quality, values based education for the children of PS plus many children from the surrounding village areas at a very low tuition. It is under the auspices of a registered non-profit foundation in India. Currently, the school has classes from kindergarten through 6^th grade. There are approximately 170 children plus at least a dozen staff members on site.

 

The quality of the local water around Puri is extremely unhealthy. Lab tests of the water show that besides the usual problems of bacteria, etc., the water has an extremely high level of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) The main culprit in the TDS is iron, and the level of iron naturally occurring in the water is greater than four times the level for healthy drinking water. It is well known that there is a very high rate of kidney failure in the population of the area due to the iron in the water. Filtration and purification are essential to make the water clean, clear and safe.

 

The funding for the purification units was provided in early March, and the units were installed early April. The purified water was tested, and the results showed zero iron in the water!  This clean drinking water was truly a gift to the children, and the timing so perfect, as the very next day after the units were installed, Puri was hit with a record breaking, life threatening heat wave. The children of Prashanti School now have much needed safe, clean drinking water to survive the triple-digit temperatures and to help them grow, learn and be healthy in the months and years to come!

THANK YOU ROTARY!

 

For more information, please see the story on the Rotary E-Club of One World website