Boosting students’ drinking water safety
“Every child deserves clean water.” This is the original intention and ultimate goal of the NGO, One Foundation, which initiated the Clean Water Project.
Launched in 2020, One Foundation’s Clean Water Project provides schools in rural areas water purifiers, water bottles, water and hygiene trainings to improve drinking water environment in rural areas, help students increase awareness of drinking water safety and foster good habits, and enable them to obtain safe drinking water in schools.
In addition, the project promotes local governments and schools to pay attention to drinking water safety in campus through establishing exemplary counties and provinces.
Arkema and its subsidiary, the specialty surfactants leader, Arkema-ArrMaz, planned to donate approximately CNY 400,000 (EUR 55,000), joining One Foundation to support the gradual implementation of the Clean Water Project in 10 primary schools of Yunnan Province. The project installed a water purifier for each school, equipped students with safety water bottles, and carried out water and hygiene trainings.
After strict water quality inspections of all equipment, schools will also carry out follow-up management and maintenance to ensure that the equipment can provide students clean and safe drinking water for a long time. Once the project is completed, approximately 4,000 students will benefit from it every year.
According to the specific needs of these schools, Arkema-ArrMaz will regularly mobilize volunteers to provide courses about hygiene, health, safety, environment, and other related campus activities in the future, so as to promote the gradual development of students' personal health habits and cultivate their awareness of safety and environmental protection”
In 2021, the project has installed water purification equipment in five schools in Rongjiang County.
This initiative is also consistent with Arkema Green Innovation Class CSR project, which helps young students to broaden their horizons and acquire knowledge from different sources, stimulating their creative abilities and boosting their comprehensive development.
Drinking clean water and developing good hand-washing habits are important to ensuring healthy growth in children, especially now during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At Baishiyan Primary School, for instance, volunteers tutored students on using water purifiers, and explaining the importance of drinking water safety to help them develop good habits of using water