High gains from simple technology
KALUTARA: For thousands of Sri Lankans without easy access to potable
water, a low-tech filter has provided them with a convenient source of
safe water, saving on fuel costs and cutting disease.
Low-tech filter: Provides a convenient source of safe water |
The water filter was first mass-produced in Nicaragua and used in
emergency relief operations. It is essentially a clay pot fortified with
ground paddy husk and coated with colloidal silver that strains out
virtually all harmful bacteria and parasites.
Ease of access
The American Red Cross (ARC) began production of the clay filter in
Sri Lanka in January 2007 and has distributed some 10,000 units so far,
principally to survivors of the December 2004 tsunami that devastated 13
of the island’s 25 districts.
“Our aim is to provide a point-of-use water purification solution
that is low cost and user friendly to as many Sri Lankans as possible,”
Omar Rahaman, ARC’s social marketing adviser for the project, told IRIN.
He added that the filter had benefited an estimated 50,000 Sri Lankans
so far.
HK Nirosha, a resident of the western Kalutara District, who lost her
home in the tsunami, said her biggest problem is the arduous daily trek
down a steep hill to draw water.
Housing project
Nirosha’s family was given accommodation by the Government in a
community housing scheme in Rosawatte, Kalutara, three years ago. “I’m
grateful that we were given this house, but the biggest problem we have
is that we have no water supply,” she said.
An artesian well installed near her two-room dwelling spewed water
tainted with a reddish sediment that residents are reluctant to use even
for bathing.
Like the 68 other families in her housing project, she was given a
water filter by ARC as a stop-gap solution.
She still has to make the daily trudge to a well that has reasonably
clear water, but all she does now is top up the water filter to have a
ready supply her three-year-old son and one-year-old daughter can safely
consume.
In a neighbouring house, WP Sharmalie was busy toting brimming
containers of rainwater that had collected overnight.
“I’m very careful to keep the filter in good condition because we
give my grand daughter, who is only six months old, drinks water from
it,” she said.
Preventing disease
Previously, drinking water was rigorously boiled and the firewood was
expensive.
Water-borne diarrhoeal disease is a leading cause of malnutrition and
under-nutrition, Renuka Jayatissa, medical specialist in charge of
nutrition at the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, told IRIN. “As long as
there are specific results to show that the filter provides safe water,
any attempt that will help control diarrhoea can only be a good thing.”
“After the filters are given to beneficiaries, we have a strict
procedure for testing the water quality,” said Jayanath Wijenayake,
information and education field supervisor of the Sri Lanka Red Cross
Society (SLRCS). He showed IRIN a bacteriological field testing kit that
is used during follow-up visits.
The clay filter, which holds eight litres of water, is encased in a
plastic receptacle with a tap at its base. Visits by SLRCS personnel,
who work in partnership with ARC in implementing projects, ensure that
recipients install and maintain the filter correctly.
With one manufacturing plant turning out some 1,000 clay filters a
month, the ARC is gearing up to increase production by contracting
another pottery factory to produce double the number.
Master potter Walter Pothmitiyage oversees the process, at the
factory in Kelaniya, a suburb of the capital Colombo.
It is necessarily slow because each pot needs to be air-dried for 10
days and then tested for appropriate porosity. ARC has equipped the
Kelaniya factory with a clay mixer, hydraulic press and other equipment
for the custom-made filters.
Affordable price
So far, ARC has distributed the water filters for free, but intends
to make them available at an affordable price to wholesale or retail
buyers. “We are now ready for business,” said Rahaman, who sees great
potential for the filters throughout Sri Lanka where access to safe
drinking water is an ongoing problem.
“The challenge is to make the transition from a project to an
enterprise,” that can self-finance the production of additional clay
filters.
The filter, based on ancient water-purifying technology, was first
mass-produced by the NGO, Potters for Peace, in 1998 for people affected
by Hurricane Mitch.
More than 30,000 beneficiaries in Central America, West Africa and
South and Southeast Asia now use the filter. IRIN |