Programme in Nepal
According to United Nations estimates, about 90% of people in Nepal have access to water. Often, however, it is too contaminated to be drunk, requiring treatment and purification. The consumption of dirty water leads to serious illness, and often death for the most vulnerable people, namely children and elderly people.
Many water supply systems were destroyed during the civil war and, not having been repaired, they are no longer in operation. The pervading uncertainty about the political situation and the nation’s future has paralysed any initiatives of both local authorities and village communities. It is only gradually that a feeling of security and social cohesion is returning, along with the wish to improve the quality of people’s lives.
Partnership with ECCA
The Nepalese NGO Environmental
Camps for Conservation
Awareness (ECCA) was set up 
to
improve living conditions through
community awareness building. Its programmes promote the use of local
resources and renewable energy technologies.
In July 2008, ECCA and Antenna Technologies launched a joint project to implement WATASOL in schools in various rural and isolated areas. It will provide safe drinking water to communities and improve access to decent sanitation, with these objectives:
- Promote access to safe drinking water in schools, and prevent water-borne diseases
- Improve school attendance rates
- Undertake hygiene education through schoolchildren
The WATA Kits distributed in schools contain:
- A Mini-WATA kit, or a standard WATA kit, powered either by (grid) electricity or a solar panel.
- A WataTest kit, to measure the concentration level of active chlorine.
- A WataBlue kit to measure residual chlorine in drinking water.
- A user manual in Nepalese.
- A carrying case.
The production of active chlorine is coordinated by teachers, who provide information and education. Schoolchildren are involved in the distribution of the chlorine solution to their families, neighbourhoods and villages.