An Effort for Clean Water
More than 3 million Guatemalans lack access to safe drinking water and about 6 million have no access to sanitation. Only 5% have access to a water treatment facility, and only 15% have potable water.
The water in use by the residents of San Andres Itzapa by the residents does not have any kind of pretreatment. It comes directly from the unconventional uptake of contaminated lakes which do not meet the standard of La Norma GuatemaltecaObligatoria NGO 29001 de Agua Potable.
The resulting unsanitary water causes villagers to resort to methods such as man-made wells. Other methods include manually obtaining fluid from runoff water, or using jugs to catch rain. All these methods constantly expose villagers to contamination. The waste disposal system in use does not contribute in any way to the health or the environment, because they commonly contain cesspools which are liable to groundwater. Also, this randomness increases the proliferation of abnormalities and odors that adversely affect health.
The solution that we have implemented is a non-electric ecological water purifier, which is composed of a mixture of sawdust and clay that form a porous ceramic which is then impregnated with a colloidal silver anti-bacteria shield. This filter works by gravity, as the tiny pores of the trap eliminates parasite cysts and fecal coliform bacteria.
