At the end of March, enthusiastic water club members took a few hours out of their Saturday for a field study about microbial water quality and water filtration. As pictured below, they sampled water from a variety of different sites – the taps at their school, a hand pump, a covered well and an open trough.
The girls were also given a demonstration of a portable water filter that was designed and built by their teacher, Geoffrey Wekesa. They sampled water both before and after it passed through the filter.
The girls were taught how to use compartmental bag tests to estimate the concentration of E.coli bacteria in the samples. The tests were left to incubate at room temperature for two days and then the club returned to assess the results. They were eager to understand and talk about the results, even though the bags smell rather bad after incubating!
For more info on the compartmental bag tests, how they work and where to order them from, check out this website.
the Kingwede Water Club 