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| Contaminated water (left) is turned pure through a
BioSand Water Filter. |
SAMARITAN’S PURSE (SP) Canada launched its
‘Turn on the Tap’ initiative April 25, to enlist households in
Canada to donate BioSand Water Filters to households in the developing
world.
SP has built and installed more than 70,000 of the
filters over 10 years; they have proven so effective that SP hopes to
install another 65,000 during the next three years.
Contaminated water poured into the top of a BioSand
Filter flows down through a column of fine sand. The sand traps parasites
and other contaminants. Organic materials caught in the sand develop into a
biological layer that enhances filtration. The water that comes out the
spout after passing through the filter is clear, safe and good-tasting.
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| “These filters . . . transform contaminated water
into drinkable water in seconds,” says Fred Weiss, executive director
of Calgary-based Samaritan’s Purse Canada. “They are a
low-cost, sustainable solution for many of the one billion people who are
forced to risk their lives by drinking contaminated water.”
Water from ditches, ponds, creeks and rivers in the
developing world is a major contributor to diarrhoeal diseases such as
cholera, dysentery and typhoid fever.
David Manz, the Canadian inventor of the BioSand
Filter, has offered the life-saving technology to charitable relief and
development organizations for free.
“Each household in Canada,” he says,
“can provide safe drinking water to one or more households in the
developing world for an average cost of only $100 per filter.”
Contact: turnonthetap.ca or 1-800-663-6500.
May 2007
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