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New water conservation programme launched |24 March 2016

A new water conservation programme dubbed ‘Water Warriors’ has been launched.

The initiative is in line with this year’s theme for World Water Day which is ‘Better water, better jobs’, intended to pay tribute to the people who work in the water sector. 

The programme was launched during a short ceremony held on Tuesday, which was World Water Day, at the Seychelles Institute of Technology (Sit) at Providence.

It is hoped that the initiative will help plumbing students and lecturers at the Sit to feel proud of their chosen profession, and appreciated by the community.

Seychelles Breweries Ltd (SBL) is funding this project which forms part of the Diageo’s (SBL’s parent company) global campaign to save water and to help women improve livelihoods. 

It is also being initiated by Sustainability for Seychelles (S4S) as a follow up to previous work it had done to promote water conservation and rainwater harvesting in collaboration with Sit, as part of their CSR programme for 2016.

The Water Warriors comprises 29 Sit plumbing students who will be trained in the basics of residential water conservation methods including fixing leaks and installing simple rainwater harvesting systems.

The training will be imparted by S4S with support from water experts at the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC).

Once the training is completed, the Water Warriors will be visiting communities in need to help households fix simple leaks around the home and garden, accompanied by their lecturers. 

During the ceremony, Mary Anne Ernesta from SBL’s corporate relations department handed over 20 sets of basic plumbing tools and supplies to the head teacher of Sit, Hubert Barbé.

The dates and locations of the community plumbing visits will be advertised on TV and radio, but are scheduled to start by early April.

Later this year, the Water Warriors will also teach the basics of rainwater harvesting to a group of women taking part in a backyard gardening programme being coordinated by the non-governmental organisation Women in Solidarity and Action (Waso), and help the women install simple rainwater collection systems at home for their home gardening efforts.

Sit is very enthusiastic about the new programme and is hoping to include it as a regular part of their plumbing training.

The executive director of S4S, Michelle Martin, said the main aim is to promote the wise use of water and especially targeting low income families who may not have the means to hire a plumber and households headed by women.

She said for fixing leaks they are targeting to help about 100 households and at least 25 households to install rain tanks.

Ms Ernesta said in Seychelles people have much better access to clean, treated water than most people across mainland Africa.

“Our problem here is that we waste water,” she said.

Mr Barbe said this project will allow Sit students to go out in the community to exercise their skills and competences alongside their lecturers to identify leaks from water distribution pipelines after the PUC meter to help households make some savings on their water bills.

Present at the ceremony were the Sit board chairman Colonel Andre Ciseau, SBL staff, Waso members, Sit lecturers and the Water Warrior members.

 

 

 

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