A boy in Southwestern Ethiopia digs a hole to find water in a sandy riverbed. It had rained the day before, so he was able to gather some muddy water to haul back to his village. |
Clean Water Solutions
writer: john reisinger
photographer: scott harrison
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It is easy to take something for granted when it is always there. In places rich with clean water resources there are watered lawns, clean cars and long showers. Comprehending the global need for water is difficult when wells are abundant and public waterworks are aptly funded - the tap turns; the water comes out. It is unimaginable to even think of walking great distances every day to throw a bucket into a swamp and call what comes out drinking water.
More than a billion people in the world are currently in need of clean drinking water. The need is so vast that no single solution will work in every case; therefore, there is room for various creative solutions. More than 2.2 million people die each year from preventable diseases caused by contaminated water. The need for clean water will continue to grow as the global population increases.
In the developing world, wells are too expensive for impoverished villages to afford because they require skilled workers and specialized heavy equipment. To top it all off, subterranean water is not always available, and surface water is generally not safe to drink. Other innovations are necessary, and tremendous steps are being taken to bring water to these communities. |
Like 200 million people worldwide, this child is infected with Schistosomiasis (parasites) because of the contaminated water he drinks in southern Ethiopia. This condition can damage the liver, lungs, intestines and bladder, resulting in a bloated belly and swollen feet. |
Prior to "charity: water" sponsoring a well in 2006, this algae-filled swamp was the water source for more than 4,000 people living in the community of Bulgeta, Ethiopia. |
This water hole is about an hour south of Rwanda's capital, Kigali. Every day people gather muddy water from this ravine in 5-gallon fuel cans and haul it several miles back to their villages. Cow feces and urine make this water deadly, but the charcoal to boil the water for sanitation is too expensive for most villagers who live on less than $1 a day. |
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Travel to impoverished regions of Africa like Scott Harrison did, and the need for clean water becomes obvious. “More than one in six people on the planet don’t have access to safe water. It’s an emergency to those billion people. Eighty percent of diseases [in the Third World] come from bad water and inadequate sanitation,” Harrison states. “When I saw … what that looked like in the developing world – 13-year-old girls that [were] not in school but instead [were] breaking their backs to haul muddy water three miles uphill to their villages – it’s hard to sit idly by.”
Harrison had to do something. He formed charity: (yes, all lowercase, with the colon included), a nonprofit dedicated to "stimulating greater global awareness about extreme poverty, educating the public, and provoking compassionate and intelligent giving." Its first campaign called "charity: water" has multiple fundraising initiatives including the sale of bottled water and well sponsorships. "We ask people to sponsor a well or a part of one. Kids, youth groups, churches, hotels and landscape companies - anyone can join us in providing clean water to these villages in need. Then, we ask people to tell our story to engage their peers," says Harrison. |
“Charity: water” receives donations that are used to fund 168 clean water well projects in these countries: Malawi, Uganda, Central African Republic, Liberia, Rwanda and Ethiopia. “Our projects normally also have a sanitation and hygiene piece to them, and training committees to maintain their new water source is key,” states Harrison.
He continues, “Many people have embraced the notion that water is a basic human right and offered to help do something about those without access to it. ... The response exceeds our expectations. ... We simply can’t raise too much awareness.”
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"charity: water" funded this new well, built in 2006, that serves the community of Bulgeta, Ethiopia. A well can pump more than a million gallons of safe, clean water per year, which is enough water to fill more than 7 million 16.9-ounce bottles. |
In some areas of the world, water is readily accessible, but it is dirty, so it needs a filter. Standard filters are expensive, complex and heavily reliant on expert maintenance. Because of these factors, they do not translate well for Third World use. A revolutionary filtration system is needed.
Enter the BioSand Water Filter. Dr. David Manz at the University of Calgary created and donated the design of this filter to be utilized by any nonprofit that could put it to good use. Organizations like Living Water International and Samaritan's Purse are building BioSand Water Filters in areas of need around the world. |
This filter is constructed out of gravel, sand, PVC pipe and sheet metal, all of which are readily available at a low cost anywhere around the world. As water passes slowly through the sand, a biological zone is formed at the top. This zone, called a “schmutzdeke,” is filled with bacteria that eat other bacteria and viruses, purifying the water as it moves down through the sand.
Pour a glass of dirty water inside the pipe, and clean drinking water will come out the other end. Its genius lies in its simplicity.
"The Pantanal area of Brazil is home to one of the largest swamps in the world. The size of Colorado, this swamp is the main source of drinking water for Pantanal communities," says Stan Patyrak, assistant vice president of Living Water International. In an area where the main source of travel is by boat, drilling water wells is extremely difficult due to the inaccessible nature of the area. "BioSand Filters have had a special impact in areas like this, as they require very little and simple maintenance," Patyrak says.
The average cost for each filter is $100 USD per household. This one-time expense includes construction, installation and monitoring of the |
Clean water flows from the Biosand water filter (background)
in El Salvador. photo | courtesy of Samaritan's Purse |
filter plus important
health and hygiene training. Samaritan’s Purse has built nearly 70,000 of these filters all over the world. “The BioSand Water Filter removes between 95 and 99.5 percent of microbial contaminants as well as 100 percent of worms and parasites. … The water flowing out of the filter is clear, good-tasting and free from … the pathogens responsible for diarrhea diseases,” states Scott Drennen, representative of Samaritan’s Purse.
Bernard Mzololo is a resident of the remote Kwale district of Kenya where clean drinking water was not readily available. Each day members of his family would trek up to 12 miles one way to access water. After receiving their filter from Samaritan’s Purse, “My family isn’t sick anymore with stomach problems,” Mzololo says. “Before we had the water filter, they would get diarrhea and suffer for a long time.” |
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