Rand Water is a proud partner of the Department of Basic Education’s national return to school programme and to ensure safe and clean water for those school communities in need. We have a long-standing commitment to serving our communities that now includes partnering with government in the fight against COVID-19. We have heeded the call by President Ramaphosa for increased partnerships, solidarity, collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and experience to fight the pandemic. After, the Department of Water and Sanitation situated the national COVID-19 Command Centre for Water and Sanitation at Rand Water at the end of March 2020, we have successfully distributed and installed 7 594 tanks in water-stressed communities throughout the country. 2 We intend to use the our technical expertise and the experience gained since then to now partner with the Department of Basic Education and school communities with the distribution and installation of water tanks in schools throughout the country where no handwashing facilities exist. Where necessary we will also work with the Department of Basic Education to assist learners to understand the benefits of handwashing through educational and behavioural tools and practices. The Memorandum of Understanding signed between ourselves and the Departments of Basic Education and Water and Sanitation was finalised on 13 May 2010. Therein we have undertaken to provide water to 3,126 schools across South Africa. On 26 May 2020, the funds transferred from the Department of Basic Education reflected in the bank account of Rand Water for the purpose of the potable water intervention. We immediately began to work. The scope of our partnership entails the supply of water tanks, the installation of the water tanks with related reticulation system and the supply of water tankers. Our approach was to ready schools with existing tanks by filling those tanks with water; and to provide tanks to those schools without tanks. We have already made significant progress, and are confident that we are on target to meet the necessary deadlines for the commissioning of the potable water infrastructure at all the schools. As of today our progress is as follows;  354 - number of schools that were made ready have been capacitated. This number will likely increase before the end of the day.  1 320 - number of new tanks that are currently in transit to schools, with 522 already allocated at a central area within the provinces ready for distribution to schools.
 582 – new temporal stand have been constructed, of which 269 have tanks, 313 tanks will have tanks installed before the end of the day.