The challenge
In rural Cambodia the problem isn’t the absence of water — it’s the absence of safe water. Schools collect rain and surface water that carries the bacteria behind waterborne illness. Children walk long distances in tropical heat and arrive with a brutal choice: go thirsty, or drink water that can make them sick.
Sick kids miss school. Families pay for bottled water they can’t afford. And the infrastructure to fix it municipally simply isn’t coming.
Our solution
This one is solved — we just need to fund it. Our partner ISZA Trade designs and builds a rainwater-harvesting + storage + ultrafiltration system that delivers safe drinking water with the pathogens filtered out, for $700 a school. Our partners KCCO and YourAid have installed 300+ of these systems since 2020, and ISZA donates 60 a year.
Maintenance is a two-minute flush. Clean Water Help raises the money and manages donor reporting; ISZA builds the systems; KCCO and YourAid handle installation and training; the school runs it for years.
Who does what
We are force multipliers, not occupiers — the local partner leads and we supply the science, the design, and the funding.
- Fund new school systems and manage the campaign
- Verify treated-water quality
- Report transparently to every donor
- Select schools by need with local partners
- Manufacture, install, and maintain systems (ISZA)
- Identify schools and serve the community (KCCO)
- Train school staff on the 2-minute upkeep
The team behind it
Volunteer scientists and engineers donating their expertise to this project — click anyone to see their work.
From the field
