Sanitory: Before buying water from TEUK SAAT 1001, the villagers drank water either from home filtration system provided by NGOs (no maintenance or replacement) or boiling water from rivers/ponds. This has a direct impact on the health of the villagers, on diarrhea risks and school absenteeism. Over large parts of the world, humans have inadequate access to potable water and use sources contaminated with disease vectors, pathogens or unacceptable levels of toxins or suspended solids. Drinking or using such water in food preparation leads to widespread acute and chronic illnesses and is a major cause of death and misery in many countries.
Education have been a key for TEUK SAAT 1001 for more than 10 years to spread messages in Cambodian villages about the importance of drinking safe water.
People Awareness: In 2020, education to children and villagers is still key to teach them that pond water or rain water are free but it has bad consequences for their health, concentration at school/work, and also very time demanding.Every month, TEUK SAAT 1001 team go to villages and teach O-we entrepreneurs, villagers and students the importance of
WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) like teaching or reminding the benefits of drinking safe water, or also by experiencing how to wash hands properly to avoid infection and diseases.
Seasonality: Every year during the rainy season, TEUK SAAT 1001 has to help entrepreneurs to maintain their beneficiaries’ consumption of safe drinking water. Indeed, from May to November, the usual O-we beneficiaries often neglect their consumption of drinkable water and go for rain collection. This has unfortunate social consequences: for more than 6 months in the year, the villagers’ state of health worsens, as for the O-we entrepreneur they have to face lower activity – and salary – for their team ( 2 operators) and for themselves.
Development: TEUK SAAT 1001 is seeing more and more brands of water or water treatment solutions, which means an encouraging expansion of access to drinking water in the country. The constraint lies in the fact that the TEUK SAAT 1001 team observed that the quality of the water is not always controlled as it should to ensure good health. The distribution of water filters is a good example of initiative, villagers collect rainy water and they use the filter but villagers do not have the habit or money to renew them every 6 months as it would be necessary for its operation so when continuing using outdated filters
, people do not measure the risks they take for their families. TEUK SAAT 1001 helps O-we to remain the reference in Cambodian villages in terms of service, price and quality of water.
Environment: By installing solar energy consumption on O-we water kiosks since 2012 – a photovoltaic panel of 85Wc to 150Wc – TEUK SAAT 1001 contributes to reduce electrical, wood, charcoal and fuel consumption in Cambodia.
Because plastic is a challenge – with 10M plastic bags used everyday 10M in Phnom Penh only – we want to minimize and sensibilize people in remote area about plastic consumption. This is one of the reasons
O-we water is bottled in a reusable container of 20 liters whose duration varies according to the frequency of use but reaches an average of 12 months. Similarly, in regards to the “Water at School” program, school children fill their own small bottles and are invited to reuse them as many times as possible, they learn that each of their small actions has an impact on the protection of the planet.
Demographic: By operating 250+O-we water kiosks, TEUK SAAT 1001 has generated 800+ jobs that encourages people drinking clean and safe water in their communities. Main cities grow quickly in Cambodia, so do the population ; adults & youngest quit their families in countryside to go to cities for education and work. More and more factories (textile, food) appear on the outskirts of cities and villages. Minimum monthly wage in 2020 has been evaluated at 190$ (vs 61$ in 2012) whereas TEUK SAAT 1001 strives to maintain the selling price of O-we between 1 and 2 dollar cents per liter, which corresponds to an acceptable level of 3% of the revenue from a household living below the poverty line. By selling their water, even at very low prices, O-we entrepreneurs have started to earn monthly income which is slightly higher than the national average.
