News & Stories

Students reach across continents to help each other

Ireland's two top Water Explorer teams from 2016 made the very generous decision to donate some of their Water Explorer prize money to Corrie Lynn Primary School in South Africa to improve their rainwater harvesting system.

The school used the funding to fix the connecting pipes between their water butt (known in South Africa as a jojo tank) and the gutters, and bought a small pump to pump water to their kitchen and bathroom. 

These upgrades made a real difference, as before this they had no piped water, and had to carry buckets of water from their other jojo tank 100m away! They also relied heavily on a municipal water tanker that delivers 2000 litres of water to them each week. Having a rainwater harvesting system enables them to be more independent and will also help them to be prepared for future droughts.

This is what Principal Thenjiwe had to say; "We are so honoured and grateful that our small little school has been thought of in this way, this gift will really help us to be more sustainable in terms of water use...we are now more motivated than ever."