This project has been completed under the direction of Peace Corps Volunteer Nicholas Swope.
To read about the beginning of the project, CLICK HERE.
The project was to purchase and install a four-filter water purification system to provide safe water for the hospital.
Nicholas reports:
The water filter was successfully installed in a high-traffic area in our hospital. The community members and the hospital workers were and still are very excited to drink the clean water. The clean water is primarily being used for drinking and secondarily used for cooking in the kitchen.
The dispenser has two valves, one that dispenses hot water and one that dispenses cool water. A local colleague and I have been counting the usage of each valve. The hot water valve is used 96% of the time and the cold water valve is used only 4% of the time. We hypothesize that cool water consumption will increase as people realize that drinking this cool water isn’t dangerous.
These are a few translated comments from community members:
“This is the first time I have drank water at the hospital, it is very nice.”
“This water will be nice in the winter; while I am waiting for the doctor I can drink hot water.”
“With this (filter) I don’t have to buy bottled water, it’s right here.”A week after the installation I gave maintenance training to the two workers placed in charge of the dispenser as well as the office staff in charge of re-supplying the filters. This filter unit has high-quality parts thus shouldn’t require much maintenance. Changing the filters is the only regular procedure to ensure clean water. All of the other parts are designed for years of use.
The next phase of this project is advertising and telling the community as a whole about this water filter. The filter purification descriptions will be printed and posted beside the filter. This will allow for easy readability when people are getting water.
It is important for this project to not only provide clean water to people visiting the hospital but to also get the community thinking about always using clean water. There will be a list of simple questions posted next to the water filter for people to think about. Examples would be: Does boiling your water remove the metals from the water? How many minutes does it take boiling water to kill the contaminants like giardia?
We wish to thank Nicholas for completing this project, and again extend our gratitude to the Elmo Foundation for providing the funding.