The Khanyisa High School duo of Siyabulela Vuke (15) and Nqobile Sibuta (17) will represent the Eastern Cape in the South African Youth Water Prize (SAYWP) national competition, after winning the provincial leg of the competition held in Qonce (formerly King Williams Town) recently.
The SAYWP is the brainchild of the Department of Water and Sanitation which allows learners in grades 10 and 11 to create innovative projects in the water science field.
The competition further encourages and empowers the youth to actively participate in integrated and community-based water resource management.
The SAYP national competition is scheduled to take place in Pretoria on May 27.
The duo’s winning innovative water solution project proposes solutions to water problems currently faced by communities in Tsolo, who must share unsafe water from the river with animals, due to communal taps running dry for months.
Their innovative project proposes use of water tanks to harvest and store water from the river where it will be purified using low-cost purification solutions to make it safe for human consumption, while simultaneously ensuring uninterrupted water supply during drought and other natural disasters.
Their winning proposal also proposes that solar-powered infrastructure be used to extract water to the tanks where it can be purified before being pumped to taps for consumption.
“We first identified a water problem that was within the Tsolo region, and we then proposed an innovative solution which talks to bettering water infrastructure and purifying water to make it safe for the communities,” said Grade 11 learner, Sibuta.
“I am excited to have won the provincial competition but also anxious about the national competition,” added Grade 10 learner, Vuke.
As provincial winners of the SAYWP, Sibuta and Vuke received a R3 000 cash prize and the same amount for their school. They also bagged themselves bursaries sponsored by the Department of Water and Sanitation on water science-related studies at tertiary institutions of their choice.
“We are very happy by the achievement of the learners which is testament to the strong working relations between the staff, school governing body and parents and we are giving them our unconditional support as they prepare for the national competition,” said Khanyisa High School principal, Mthobeli Cabane.
Winners of the South African Youth Water Prize will be jetting off to Stockholm, Sweden, by the middle of August.