Members of the Rotary Club of Phillip Island and San Remo have returned from a humanitarian trip to Timor-Leste, where they worked with Disaster Aid Australia and Rotary Projects Timor-Leste East to expand a life-changing clean water program.

During the visit, the volunteers helped install and audit ultra-filtration clean water systems in schools and communities and met with Timor-Leste's Minister for Education.

That high-level meeting is expected to yield a joint commitment to roll out these safe water units across government schools, greatly widening the project's reach.

Over the past eight years, the Rotary-led initiative has installed 34 ultra-filtration systems across Timor-Leste, now providing access to safe drinking water for an estimated 44,000 students.

Recent audits confirmed that all units are in excellent working condition - notably, even the first system deployed in the country about eight years ago remains fully functional.

This durability is a testament to the technology's robustness and the Rotary team's diligent maintenance efforts.

These ultra-filtration systems are innovative, gravity-fed water filters that use advanced membranes to remove 99.9 per cent of waterborne contaminants.

Each unit can purify up to 10,000 litres of water a day without needing electricity or chemicals, enough to meet the daily needs of a school or village.

This access to clean water has sharply reduced waterborne illnesses and improved day-to-day life and school attendance for students, who can now drink safely on site rather than fetching or boiling water.

The shift also brings environmental benefits by curbing reliance on purchased water in disposable plastic bottles, or using wood fires to boil water, reducing both plastic pollution and deforestation.

The local Rotary contingent's meeting with the education minister is aimed at extending the clean water program into many more state-run schools, potentially benefiting thousands more children soon.

This project highlights what a small community-driven team can accomplish on the global stage.

The Phillip Island and San Remo Rotarians - all volunteers - together with many Rotary clubs around Australia, have poured time and resources into improving lives abroad, in partnership with Timorese

communities. 

"It's a fantastic project - simple, sustainable technology that's truly life-changing," said Rotary Phillip Island and San Remo spokesperson Duncan Hedditch.

"Once a system is installed, the local community maintains it, and it just keeps giving clean water year after year."

The club's ongoing commitment, from fundraising at home to hands-on work in the field, reflects Rotary's ethos of "Service Above Self" and the power of a local initiative making a worldwide impact.