Staff and students of Valkyrie State School in central Queensland now have reliable access to drinking water thanks to the help of Rural Aid Australia and a SOURCE Hydropanel system.
After relying on plastic water bottles for the past six years due to drought, Rural Aid facilitated the installation of SOURCE Hydropanels to provide the school with a constant drinking water supply, all through renewable energy.
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The Valkyrie State School project is the third of its kind completed by Rural Aid at Queensland schools.
Valkyrie P and C committee president Kristen Michelmore said the access to high-quality drinking water has provided the school community with plenty of peace of mind.
"School needs to be a safe place where kids can learn and not have to worry about turning on a tap," she said.
"Regional school children should be treated the same as those in the cities and provided the same basic services.
"Through my work with the Isolated Children's Parents' Association it is clear this is not just a problem for Valkyrie - many other schools across regional and remote Australia have issues with drinking water quality and access, so it would be great to see more projects like this supported by the Government and Education Department."
"A huge thanks to Rural Aid, Stanmore Resources, the Central Queensland Mining Rehabilitation Group and SOURCE for providing potable water to our school."
Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said the foundation was proud to have provided the rural community with a solution to their "drinking water woes."
"Droughts are difficult for kids to process, so to not have safe drinking water at school, on top of dry taps at home, is an appalling situation," he said.
"Rural Aid acted quickly to offer the Valkyrie school community a sustainable and drought-proof alternative to trucked-in water.
"We're hoping that this installation will serve as the benchmark for providing water across more schools in Queensland that face issues of scarcity and contamination."
SOURCE Global's Director of Market Development Alex Polson said the drought proof system was both consistent and environmentally sustainable, with the ability to offset more than 800,000 plastic water bottle over its 15-year lifespan.
"No parent or teacher should have to worry about where they're going to get drinking water from for their children and students, so we're glad that SOURCE Hydropanels can ensure a consistent, drought-proof supply of water here in Valkyrie" he said.
"The use of decentralised, renewable technologies like SOURCE Hydropanels give regional and remote parts of Australia the ability to become healthier and more climate resilient, while avoiding the cost, waste, and inconvenience of single use plastic bottles."
Rural Aid and SOURCE Global, along with the Central Queensland Mining Rehabilitation Group and Stanmore Resources, covered the majority of the system's cost, in addition to some local funding.
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