Water Purification for Ngobe communities
In 2007, I read an article (which I have archived) describing unexplained deaths in the more remote Ngobe communities due to an undetermined cause. Many of those who died were under 5 years of age and exhibited flu-like symptoms. Further research and inquires locally revealed that many of the Indigenous children are at risk from border-line malnutrition and contaminated water supplies.
We also discovered that children under the age of five dying was not just isolated to that one area, but across the entire region. Review of a U.N. site for related cases turned up the startling number that world wide over 1,000,000 children under age five die annually, due primarily to contaminated water. The water is contaminated with dysenteric amoebas, and disease causing bacteria, viruses, and other parasites. The young children and the elderly are at most risk due to their inability to fight off infections and dysentery dehydration (because they are already weak, ill, or have little reserves to fight with).
The site also reported that secondary opportunistic infections like flu’s kill many of those previously weakened, but who under healthier conditions would have normally survived the illness. By first-hand observation, I know that many of the communities and isolated homes get their water supply from shallow, open wells. These wells are often in close proximity to areas used for washing clothes and other activities. Because the wells are open there is also direct contact from animals and run-off from contaminated soil.
Since centralized or municipal water systems in communities are difficult to control for contamination, we began to search for a simple, non-mechanical, inexpensive, and easy-to-use device that we could put into every home. Eric Nyman of Greenlines, Inc. offered us a method to construct a simple, but very effective home water purifier from materials readily available here. This filtration method is called "slow sand filtration" and these purifiers have been found to be about 95-97% effective in filtering out harmful organisms.
Unlike other filtration methods, slow sand filters use biological processes to clean the water, and do not require chemicals or electricity to operate. They also have no moving parts and are easy to operate and clean. We could build one for around $20 and it would be fully functional for maximum filtration in about three days of use.
Through discussions and again first first-hand observation in the communities, I know personal hygiene is a major factor in the infection and water contamination cycle. Without an effective plan to change this behavior, the water purifier will most likely become ineffective. If you purify water and then touch it with contaminated hands or containers it is ineffective. What we need now is someone to put together a program to present to the communities with simple handouts on why people get ill from water, how to use the purifier, and the role of personal hygiene in this program.