Ensuring access to safe drinking water.
The Challenge
Clean water is critical for maintaining health, yet public schools in big cities often lack safe water due to contamination or insufficient access. In 2019, over 580 million children lacked a basic drinking water service at their school.
Water Availability
Limited and inconsistent availability of water is a significant challenge in these cities. In Addis Ababa, for example, there is simply not sufficient municipal water supply to meet demand. Without access to water at school, the only options are to bring water from home or not have drinking water during the school day.
Water Quality
Water can be contaminated by E. coli and other bacteria and viruses that cause diarrhea and other health problems. The source of this contamination often occurs between the school and the source from compromised pipes, unsafe water storage, or even dirty taps at the point of use.
In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, only 33% of schools had reliable access to water throughout the school week. In Kolkata, India, 13% of schools had water that was not safe for drinking due to high levels of total coliform.
What We're Doing
Provide clean water for healthy kids.
Leverage commercial-grade water filtration systems.
Ensure water is safe and reliably flowing at all times.
It All Starts with Clean Water
We deploy commercial ultra-filtration water systems manufactured by Antunes, a U.S. company serving multinational restaurant chains with factories in India and China. Antunes systems are the most durable, low-maintenance, and high flow rate systems we’ve ever seen. They remove 99.9999% of bacteria and viruses to ensure that water meets all WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality.
Storage for the Flow-age
Clean, safe water is not enough in itself; it needs to be available whenever kids are present. We ensure there is sufficient water storage capacity by installing water storage systems so there is enough water for every person at the school, including students and staff.
Drink Up
Finally, we install our custom-designed drinking stations so kids can fill up bottles and drink directly from the bubblers whenever they need to. Many of our countries of operation face extreme challenges with water availability, so we install water-conserving taps that shut off after a few seconds of flow.
The Key to Sustainability
Splash ensures sustainability by training school staff on the operations and maintenance of the filtration system and providing an initial supply of spare parts. We provide technical assistance for two years after installation is complete and encourage schools to call us if they are having any problems. Splash provides water quality testing for four years after the installation is complete to make sure the water stays clean.
Clean Water Today & Beyond
We use the same technology and supply chains as world-class restaurants and hotels to make quality water possible for kids living in urban poverty. By optimizing our supply chain, we have improved the quality, consistency, and timeliness of our product delivery. With a proven model of impact and scale, clear evidence of efficient costs, and connection to robust local supply chains, we can ensure that governments and local businesses can adopt and fund the maintenance of Splash sites for the long term.