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MILLION-DOLLAR EFFORT BRINGS CLEAN WATER
TO THOUSANDS IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
They look like blue plastic garbage cans. But that’s the beauty of bio-sand
filters: There are no parts to break, no electricity to rely on, yet they
can reduce diarrhea, the second-leading cause of child mortality, by 40
percent.
Through a US$151,363 project supported by a Rotary Foundation Matching
Grant,
Rotarians are putting 1,250 bio-sand filters into homes in the Dominican
Republic. It’s the most recent undertaking in District 4060’s seven-year-old
Children’s Safe Water Alliance, which has helped bring 19,000
filters — and clean water — to 100,000 people in 300 communities.
The groundwork for the project was laid at a chance meeting in 2002, when
a Canadian doctor showed a bio-sand filter to Bob Hildreth, then president
of the Rotary Club of Puerto Plata Isabel de Torres, Puerto Plata, Dominican
Republic, and past club president James Bodenner and his wife, Susan, both
of
the Rotary Club of Rockford, Michigan, USA.
Intrigued by the simple design and $60
price tag, they started a small project
that grew into a multidistrict effort. The Bodenners recruited clubs from
District 6290 and encouraged members to see the work firsthand. They’ve now
led 14 trips to the Dominican Republic, which they credit with invigorating
Rotarians.
“When they’re going, they think about what shots should I have, what clothes
do
I take, the gift for the host family,” says Susan Bodenner. “Within 24 hours
of
being in the country, it’s like, OK, how does a Matching Grant work?”
By 2009, more than 150 clubs in Canada, the Dominican Republic, the United
States, and other countries had contributed almost $1 million to the effort,
including
funds from 30 Matching Grants. The project recently switched from cement
filters to more portable plastic ones.
On the Dominican side, the effort spread through piloting. David Crow, of
the Rotary Club of Santiago Monumental, Santiago, was introduced to the
filters
five years ago when Hildreth gave his club a few to try in a nearby
community
to see how local leaders would respond. The club soon wrote a Matching Grant
proposal to continue the project, with help from the Rotary Club of Calgary
West, Canada.
“That’s what we have done with other
clubs,” says Crow, who now manages
grants for the district’s water projects. “They try it and then have gotten
their
own Matching Grants.”
In 2005, James and Susan Bodenner invited
an official from the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention to talk to their district about the
bio-sand
filter’s effects on health. Since then, District 6290 (Ontario, Canada;
Michigan,
USA) has partnered with other districts to hold an annual conference,
Thirsting
to Serve, that brings together water experts and Rotarians.
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Rotarians
Sara Lucena and Bob Hildreth
set up a new bio-sand water filter
for a Dominican Republic household. |
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UNFILTERED WATER
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WATER DIFFUSER
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2" WATER
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BIO -LAYER
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SAND
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1/4" GRAVEL
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1/2" GRAVEL
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FILTERED WATER
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Output: 0.8 liters/minute |
From The Rotary World, July
2009
More:
Rotary Club of Rockford, Michigan, USA, RID 6290
http://rockfordmirotary.com/
and
http://www.jbodenner.com/ |
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