On 1 September 2006, the Polish Humanitarian Organisation (PHO) handed over the water treatment plant WNS1 to water and sewerage company Grozwodokanalow. The plant has been in operation since 2000 and provides water to 85 water points – mainly schools, kindergartens, hospitals and medical centres - in the Chechen capital Grozny. Handling over of a second, bigger water treatment plant, K2, which provides drinking water to 139 points, is planned for 1 January 2007. These activities are part of PHO’s “Water Programme for Resident Civilians in Grozny”, which is financed by UNICEF.

In August 2006 PHO constructed double pit latrines in three schools in Chechnya and by the end of September it will have provided toilets for a polyclinic and a hospital in Grozny. These activities are part of PHO’s programme for the “Improvement of environmental sanitation conditions in Grozny and other parts of Chechnya” (The Sanitation Project) financed by the European Community Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO).

The Polish Humanitarian Organisation (PHO) was founded in 1994 as the country’s first independent humanitarian aid NGO. Besides in Chechnya, PHO has ongoing or planned water and sanitation projects in Sri Lanka, Sudan and the West Bank, Palestine.

Web site – PHO – Chechnya

Contact: Polish Humanitarian Organisation, Poland, pah@pah.org.pl, http://www.pah.org.pl

Source: PHO, 5 Sep 2006 ; PHO, 11 Sep 2006

Tags: emergencies, school sanitation, water quality