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West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. Two months ago, much of the resort island of Lombok was in the grip of an unusually long dry season that forced villagers to walk as far as three kilometers just to fetch water for drinking and cooking.

Now, though, a new project set up at several schools in West Lombok district is seeking to put an end to the chronic water shortages in the area.

As part of the Asia Water-for-Life Project, run by the Nebraska-based Planet Water Foundation, water towers have been set up at four state elementary schools (SDN) and two Islamic schools in the district.

Each of the structures, called aqua towers, holds two tanks — one containing raw water, including seawater and wastewater, and the other clean, processed water — as well as a filtration device linking the two.

“The device doesn’t need electricity to run,” said Planet Water founder and chief executive Mark Steele. “The components of each tower cost $20,000, or about Rp 180 million per unit.”

Steele said each tower can produce 10,000 liters of clean water a day, enough to fulfill the drinking needs of more than 1,000 people. The school’s previous water supply, according to Planet Water, came from an “existing well with unsafe water. [The] new water supply [is] to be shared with [an] adjacent village.”

Steele said Indonesia is one of eight countries in Asia where Planet Water is carrying out its Asia Water-for-Life Project. The others include the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, China, India and Pakistan.

Of Indonesia’s 240 million people, 50 million lack access to clean water, while 70 million have no access to even the most basic of sanitation facilities, Steele said.

This has led to a high frequency of easily preventable diseases such as diarrhea, which kill thousands of infants and young children each year in regions such as West Nusa Tenggara.

Last December, Planet Water set up a similar aqua tower at a primary school in Yogyakarta to cater to those displaced by last year’s deadly eruption of Mount Merapi. The funding for that project was donated by JP Morgan, which has given $1 million to the Asia Water-for-Life Project

Steele said the program focuses on improving community access to clean water and hand-washing facilities in schools and remote villages, as well as educating children and adults about the importance of proper hygiene and sanitation.

For the students and teachers of SDN 13 Ampenan, the aqua tower represents a release from a long dependency on having to fetch well water and boil it, or buy expensive bottled water.

“They say we can drink the water directly, and we’ve tried it — it’s refreshing!” said Putri, a sixth-grader.

The water will be made available to the school and local community for free.