Water kiosk uses solar power
Togo: WACKER Relief Fund inaugurates a solar-powered well
Adjegan/Munich, Jun 15, 2023
Clean drinking water is a given for many people, but sadly, not in Togo. The drinking water there first has to be purified or boiled. Until now, fuel was collected around a school in the village of Adjegan in order to boil the brown water – to the detriment of health and climate. The WACKER Relief Fund helped remedy the situation with a solar project: A water kiosk powered by WACKER’s polysilicon now provides clean drinking water for the people of Adjegan.
Are our donations used properly? Foundation Executive Board member Mirko Kappelhoff was able to confirm this with his own eyes when he traveled to Togo in mid-April to represent the WACKER Relief Fund at the inauguration ceremony for a solar-powered water kiosk. The site is located in the municipality of Adjegan; the nearest major town is Aného in southeastern Togo. Many households in the region do not have running water. And those that do, can’t drink this water because it is contaminated and can cause diseases. That’s why water must be boiled, often by burning wood. The emissions generated in the process can be saved in the future thanks to the water kiosk financed by the WACKER Relief Fund.
The solar-powered water kiosk was installed next to the school grounds of the EPP Agbanou elementary school in Adjegan. The system includes chip cards that can be used to draw clean, purified drinking water. Electric pumps connected to a water purification system pump and distribute the water. Both the pumps and the water purification system are powered by Meyer Burger solar cells made with polysilicon produced by WACKER.
Mirko Kappelhoff was impressed and moved by the gratitude and warmth of the people when the chip cards were issued to 615 children and 12 teachers. “Since many Adjegan children don’t have clean, leak-proof containers, we also donated water bottles for everyone,” explains Mirko Kappelhoff, who ensured that the colorful one-liter bottles were sourced from a regional supplier in Africa. Valid for one year, the chip cards give every schoolchild access to five liters of free drinking water every day. “We intend to continue supporting children with drinking water cards in the years ahead,” announced Mirko Kappelhoff.
The water kiosk can also be used by neighbors who load their smart cards with local currency to pay five CFA francs (de la Communauté Financière d’Afrique) per liter of drinking water. This amount corresponds to the smallest coin in XOF currency. Converted to euros, one liter of purified water costs less than one cent (one West African Economic and Monetary Union CFA franc is equivalent to €0.0015 at the XOF exchange rate in June 2023). By comparison, the store prices for clean bottled drinking water in Togo are at least on a par with European prices, which makes it very expensive for the population.
A prince and world champion partner the efficiency project
Numerous dignitaries welcomed Mirko Kappelhoff at the inauguration ceremony, including the mayor of Aného, Coffi Alexis Aquereburu, the prime minister’s notary, Tete Wilson-Bahun, the king of the city of Kpessi, Ari Edem Akouvi, and Prince Lorenzo Kouami Folly Kuegah. In addition, the foundation’s board held talks with Senator Holger Schönherr of Eau Propre d’Afrique Togo Sarl and Kevin Möller of atmosfair GmbH, both involved in the realization of the water kiosk.
The project was realized when, at the suggestion of Dr. Markus Haider from Burghausen, the WACKER Relief Fund contacted atmosfair, a Berlin-based nonprofit organization for climate-protection projects involving renewable energies and energy-efficiency technologies. Eau Propre d’Afrique is the local project partner for the construction and operation of the water kiosk. Eau Propre employs Togolese workers who are trained and instructed by German engineers. The water kiosk system with tested drinking-water quality is to be further expanded.
“Particularly promising in this aid project is the competent organization on site,” said Mirko Kappelhoff, who was impressed by the efficiency of Eau Propre, a company familiar with local conditions: “The two owners, Prince Lorenzo Kouami Folly Kuegah, incidentally a former world boxing champion, and Senator Holger Schönherr from Germany, put their networks and German thoroughness to good use. They implement projects where the aid meets specific needs. A welcome oasis – that’s the WACKER Relief Fund water kiosk: the happy faces pictured at the opening ceremony say it all.
If you would like to support the WACKER Relief Fund, here is the donation account:
WACKER HILFSFONDS
IBAN: DE59 7005 0000 0003 3333 33
BIC: BYLADEMMXXX
Postal address or personnel number (for active employees)
Donation receipt: will be mailed by WACKER HILFSFONDS at the beginning of the year.
Roughly 4,600 employees participate in the WACKER Relief Fund’s cent-donation program. Their support is keeping the projects the foundation supports up and running.
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