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In December 2019, Premier Water & Energy Technology, Inc. began working with Pure Water for the World (PWW) to help a community in Honduras called El Tablazo. This community did not have access to safe drinking water and children had to go out into the open to use the restroom at home and at school. Representatives from PWW trained the community on personal hygiene and its importance to the wellness of the community.

PWW also worked with people of El Tablazo to facilitate the building and installation of wash stations in the community and at the school as well as the installation of biosand filters at each family’s house. They also needed to make their own adobe bricks for the wash stations and have been training on how to maintain their biosand filters.

After a slight delay due to COVID-19 and an extremely heavy rainy season, this project is now complete! Premier Water is grateful that we were able to provide safe drinking water to this community. Please click here to read more about El Tablazo and to see more of the completed project.

Génesis, says "Thank you, Premier. The filter really works!"

Maria, says "Thank you, Premier and Pure Water for the World for this gift. Now we can drink clean water and will no longer get sick. Thank you."

This week we were excited to get an update from our partners with Pure Water for the World. Please keep reading to learn more from PWW.

Introduction

On March 16, 2020, the Honduran government shut down all non-essential businesses, including PWW, in response to COVID-19. While a limited number of PWW staff was given special permission to work on key projects and programs, work with individual homes had been halted. Last week, the Honduran government lifted some of these restrictions, issuing permission for up to 60% of staff (depending on region) to return to their work activities, maintaining strict protocols of biosecurity to prevent the transmission of COVID.

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In Trojes, the region where El Tablazo is located, the PWW team was able to get back to work! Early in the week, all PWW team members received detailed instruction regarding the new required protocols, including the use of personal protection equipment and biosecurity necessary to keep both our staff and the families we visit protected.

The PWW team let the families of El Tablazo know we would be coming to work in their community again. They first hosted an open-air, outdoor meeting with community leaders to build confidence and explain the new procedures. This was an important step to help families feel comfortable and safe with our team going into their homes to install the biosand water filters.

Filter Delivery

El Tablazo is a difficult community to reach, as it requires crossing a river. The PWW team had to ride in a canoe to deliver and distribute the 23 biosand filters. Once the river was crossed, the filters were carried by horse to a central location where families came to collect their filters and bring back to their homes. A PWW team member, along with a Community Agent (a local volunteer community member), would then visit each of the 23 homes to install the filters.

Filter Installations

The family in the photos is Novis Noel González Espinoza. They have eight family members who live in their home. They were very excited and thankful when PWW came to install the filter. They shared that they had concerns that the PWW team was not going to return to El Tablazo because of COVID19. They congratulated the PWW team for having the courage to return to help them. Novis said, “We were worried about not having clean water, especially now that the rainy season has started. The water we were drinking looks like chocolate and tastes like dirt. We really don't want to get sick, as hospitals may have patients with COVID19.” A total of 10 filters were installed last week, with the rest scheduled for this week when the PWW team returns to El Tablazo. Photo of the Gonzales family, with some of its members.

WASH in Schools

Parents helped dig the pits and painted the walls of the school handwashing and latrine (WASH) station, as PWW team members worked on the latrine slabs and the placement of the rooftops for the WASH station. Even a pet was around to wiggle a tail of happiness. It was getting late and, with the 5:00pm government-required curfew, the team had to finish for the day. They will return this week to finalize the school filter installation as well as place the doors on the latrines. Children have not returned to classes yet. When they do, they will find clean, safe water and a safe place to wash their hands and use the bathroom at their school…for the first time ever. Thank you, Premier Water!

Premier Water has partnered with Pure Water for the World (PPW) for an exciting water project in El Tablazo, Honduras. El Tablazo is a small community located in the Trojes region of Honduras. There are 23 families, with 108 residents in total. This community is located about an hour from the Coco River (previously called the Segovia River), which divides Honduras from Nicaragua. The river is mostly used to transport commercial goods from La Mosquitía, Honduras to Nicaragua, but is also used for recreation during the summer.

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In this region, water quality is a major concern. Results from the water quality test, conducted in November 2019, demonstrated extremely high levels of e-coli (170 counts) and have high levels of turbidity, especially during the rainy season. 34% of the families practice open defecation and the conditions of water and sanitation at the local school of Francisco Morazán are deplorable, with 13 children and one teacher having to practice open defecation, with no place to wash their hands and no place for girls to manage menstruation.

With Premier Water’s sponsorship of El Tablazo, all 23 homes and the community school will gain sustainable access to clean water and sanitation. Families will receive BioSand Water Filters and learn to safely use this water for drinking, bathing, washing, and cleaning. The eight families that do not have a safe and reliable latrine, will learn how to build a latrine, receiving detailed instruction, materials and follow-up from PWW to support the proper construction and use of their home latrine.

Hygiene education will be provided to all members of the community, including:

• Environmental hygiene, which includes water source protection practices;
• Home hygiene;
• Personal hygiene;
• Menstrual hygiene management.

Community members will select Community Agents, leaders from the community who volunteer to serve as an extension of the PWW team. They receive additional training about the water filters, including how to install them correctly and how to maintain them. Community Agents are assigned three homes to support and monitor. They visit these homes to ensure families are using their tools and hygiene practices correctly and effectively.

Premier is excited to see the completion of this water project and to help give the community of El Tablazo a safer and cleaner place to live and go to school.

Our fourth project we funded for charity: water completed in Uganda in August 2019. Please continue reading the letter we received from Julia Gallus, Water Programs Manager at charity: water describing the project. "At the end of 2017, you decided to be part of ending the water crisis by making a substantial investment in charity: water's work in Uganda. The impact you have as a Water Project Sponsor is truly transformative, and we are celebrating with you today as you learn more about the work you've made possible! 100% of your generous donation funded one well with a hand pump for people living in the Bugiri and Namayingo Districts of Uganda. Thanks to you, we're one step closer to making sure that every single person on the planet has access to clean and safe water. Your donation was part of a $1,501,404.79 commitment that funded 156 projects and brought clean water to 55,805 people!

To ensure the long-term sustainability of the projects you've funded, our local partner, GOAL, has developed a rigorous procedure for implementing water points. This procedure ensures that water projects are constructed with technical excellence and the ability to withstand Uganda's complex conditions, including low pH and low water tables." It is awesome to see how something we often take for granted, like clean water, can change the lives of so many people. We are truly grateful that we are able to be a part of the change. You can click here to learn more about this project and enter GPS coordinates 0.61038, 33.79497.