A water point at an institution reaches more people per shilling than a household one. It also fails harder, because hundreds of people depend on it and nobody personally owns it.
Schools
The needs are drinking water, water for handwashing, and latrines that children will actually use.
- Separate latrines for girls and boys, in separate locations rather than adjacent doors, with doors that lock from inside.
- A private washing space for girls with water and a disposal point for menstrual materials. Without it, girls miss several days of school every month, which over a year is a substantial share of their education.
- Handwashing stations at the latrines, not at the classroom block.
- Drinking water accessible at break, or children drink from unsafe sources on the way home.
- A latrine for teachers, separate from the pupils'.
- Accessible stalls for children with disabilities: a ramp, a wider door, a rail.
Rainwater harvesting suits schools particularly well, because the classroom roof is large and the demand is concentrated in the day.
Mosques
Water at a mosque is needed for ablution five times a day, which is a heavier and more predictable demand than most community points.
- Ablution areas need adequate drainage, or the surrounding ground becomes permanently wet and unsanitary.
- Design the drainage to a soakaway or to irrigate a garden, rather than letting it pool.
- Separate provision for women, sited so it can be used privately.
- Storage sized for peak demand, particularly Friday prayers and Ramadan.
A mosque water point often ends up serving the surrounding community as well, which is a good outcome but should be planned for rather than discovered, because it changes the volume and the maintenance burden.
Health facilities
The highest stakes and the least tolerance for interruption. A health centre without water cannot maintain infection control, conduct safe deliveries, or clean instruments. Water supply should be continuous, with storage sufficient to cover a pump failure, and handwashing points at every consultation and delivery room.
Who is responsible day to day?
This is where institutional water points fail. In a village, everyone knows whose committee it is. At a school, the assumption is that someone else is handling it.
Name a person. At a school, a specific teacher with it written into their duties, supported by a pupil health club. At a mosque, a named committee member. At a health centre, a named staff member. Then have the management committee ask about it at every meeting.
How is maintenance funded?
Institutions rarely have a maintenance line in their budget, so the fund has to be created deliberately: a small allocation from school funds agreed at the start of each term, a portion of mosque collections, or a community contribution.
Whatever the source, it must be a standing arrangement rather than an appeal after a breakdown. A school that must fundraise to repair a pump will have that pump broken for a term.
What should be checked, and how often
- Daily: water present at handwashing points, soap or ash present, latrines clean.
- Weekly: the pump check described in the borehole guide, tank and gutter condition.
- Termly or quarterly: latrine pit levels, structural condition, fund balance, and a report to the management committee.
Planning a new institutional facility
Count the users, not the buildings. Latrine provision is normally planned as a ratio of stalls to pupils, with separate ratios for girls and boys; ask the district education or health office for the current standard before building, because building to the wrong ratio is expensive to correct.
IDPN develops water sources for schools, mosques and health facilities alongside community points. Contact the office if your institution is planning one.