rev. 334 – 2025-12-21
R.I.-District-3450-–-Drinking-water-system-for-94-schools-in-China-2011.pdf
World Roundup
Rotary projects around the globe
CHINA
Weinan, a city in the coal-mining hub of Shaanxi province, one of China’s most environmentally distressed regions, has long had problems with polluted drinking water. District 3450, covering Hong Kong, Macau, Mongolia, and Guangdong province in China, has installed passive membrane filtration systems in 94 public schools, providing 300,000 schoolchildren with access to potable water. The district is ramping up its partnership with an Australian nongovernmental organization to double the number of schools with filtration within the next year.
The SkyHydrant filters, supplied to Rotarians at a discounted price of about $2,000 each by the SkyJuice Foundation, generate clean, chemical-free water and require no electricity. The $350,000 effort was initiated in late 2011 by then-District Governor David Harilela as a pilot project in four schools near Xi’an.
Since then, more than 200 District 3450 Rotarians have worked to install the systems, and more than 100 clubs in 13 districts have contributed to the effort. A key component, notes District Governor Hing Wang Fung, was getting the cooperation of educators and government officials to ensure that school employees would be trained to maintain and monitor the systems.
“The Chinese government has labeled 60 percent of its underground water, and one-third of its surface water, ‘unfit for human contact.’”
by BRAD WEBBER
THE ROTARIAN | DECEMBER 2017
