Twice a year we go back to every school. This is what a day at Buraway looks like.
The boat leaves Guiuan at six. On board: eight volunteers, Celso with his water testing kit, two ladders, a box of filter cartridges and a cooler of lunch.
Gutters first
By seven the ladders are up. Leaves, sand and the odd slipper come out of the gutters by the bucketful. The first flush pipe is emptied and its ball checked. One gutter bracket had worked loose and is screwed back.
Then the tank
Celso takes a sample from the tank and from each tap and tests for bacteria and cloudiness. Buraway is our test school for filters, so he also logs how fast each tap runs. A slow tap means a clogged cartridge.
Three cartridges are changed. The old ones go back to Guiuan to be cleaned and checked, because some can be used again in the school gardens.
The keepers
In the afternoon the two keepers, a teacher and a parent, walk through the checklist with Joy: what to look at every week, every month and before a storm. They sign the logbook. So do we.
Home before the wind
The boat leaves at three, before the afternoon wind gets up. The whole day costs about ₱9,000 with fuel and lunch, and it is why every tank we have built is still running.
What the tests found
This visit, every sample from the taps was clear of bacteria. The tank sample showed a little cloudiness, normal after a wet month, and well within what the filters remove. Celso adds the results to the school’s page in our records, and the principal gets a copy.
What else gets fixed
Maintenance days are also when small things get done. This time: a dripping tap washer replaced, a mosquito screen on the overflow pipe patched, and a new padlock on the tank hatch, because the old one had rusted shut.
Why we keep going back
Many rainwater systems in the Philippines stop working within a few years, not because the tank fails but because nobody comes back. A blocked gutter or a clogged filter is a small fix, if someone is there to make it. Two visits a year to every school is the promise behind every tank we build.
Join a maintenance day
Maintenance days need no special skills. If you can climb a ladder or carry a box, sign up on the Volunteer page and Joy will add you to the next boat.
