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We now have nearly 70 Aquafilter Communities and 30 Aquafilter Families producing safe water, for a total of over 5,000 families.
For both the Aquafilter Community and Aquafilter Family we now have moulded parts. This makes the filters look more professional and quicker to assemble.
At the end of July we showed both filters at the Trade and Aid exhibition at Washington DC where we had a combined stand with Aquabox. The Aquafilters were very well received and confirmed our research that there are no similar filters available.
Thanks to the generous donations and fund-raising efforts of Rotary Clubs and individuals we have sent 34 Aquafilter Communities to Pakistan and are continuing to send them. When sending aid to disasters it is important to have an NGO in the field to make sure that the Aid is put to the best possible use. In Pakistan we are working with Aquabox, Feed the Children and Humanity First
We have also sent 3 Aquafilter Communities to Haiti again working with Aquabox and Humanity First . Initial feedback was enthusiastic, but with all their problems we have had no feedback recently. Aquabox has had a further request for more filters following the outbreak of cholera.
We also continue to send Aquafilter Communities directly via other charities. In many cases a volunteer takes the filter as part of their luggage, thus saving money on transport and customs duty. We have filters in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, India, Rwanda, and Honduras and again thanks to e-mail, getting positive feedback.
In November we returned to Gambia, where the original Aquafilter Communities are still working well after 3 years( both mechanically and removing bacteria) and the users are happy and continue to report a dramatic reduction in diarrhoea and sickness. On our visit in May we set up our two test sites. Timbuctu villages with 12 Community Filters and Brikama Jidda with a Community filter in the School and 26 Aquafilter Families so that the children get clean water both at school and at home.
We detected our first faulty Aquafilter Community, which unlike the other was kept permanently in the hot (40C) tropical sun. We exchanged it for the new one we had taken with us and it is now in England for further tests.
John has now designed a neat modification to shield the filter from the sun and also incorporate the working and maintenance instructions.
We want numerical as well as verbal evidence on the reduction of water-borne diseases and have arranged, working with Muslim Aid a volunteer to monitor the filters more formally every month.
This was our fourth visit to many of these villages and we were greeted very warmly, returning home to a freezing pre-Christmas England with our determination and energy renewed.
Plans for 2011
Aquabox has set up a volunteer assembly unit at their base in Wirksworth and will build 5000+ Aquafilter Families to replace the carbon filter and chlorine tablets. The cost of both is comparable and of course the filter will provide clean water for over 3 years, unlike the chlorine tablets that run out after 3 months.
Aquabox also predict that they would like over 500 Aquafilter Communities a year to send to disaster areas with their blue Aquaboxes of aid. Our double garage is no longer big enough, so in January we are moving to space in a local factory rent free. Jeff has been doing a fantastic job as our only volunteer assembling filters, and now we will be looking for more.
We are now in talks with Newcastle University to obtain a grant for virus testing both filters. It is generally accepted by WHO and large charities that the removal of bacteria is by far the most important, but as the membrane does remove viruses we would like to have certified evidence.
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