Water Project

Bio-Sand Filters Score the Highest Marks!

This is the results of a study completed in 2007 and accepted March 24, 2008, that rates Bio-Sand Filters as the best choice of all the different systems they tested.

Point of Use Household Drinking Water Filtration: A Practical, Effictive Solution for Providing Sustained Access to Safe Drinking Water in the Developing World

SPECIAL NOTES:

1. Over 1 billion people around the world do not have potable water.  As a result, they live with constant intestinal, skin and othe infections.  Every day, 6,000 children die from drinking bad water.  The DTC Rotary Club, along with Rotary International, has decided to do something about this problem
2. On March 7th 2006 DTC Rotary was awarded a Matching Grant of $25,000.00 for the purchase of 410 Biosand Filters for 410 families in the Monte Plata province, Dominican Republic. The money includes transporting the filters (after they are manufactured locally) and for necessary training expenses, both in the production and use of the filters.
3. On March 13th, 2006 we recieved a second $25,000.00 matching grant which will provide Biosand filters for another 410 families!
4. These filters will provide clean water to over 6,000 people who will no longer have to live with disabling illnesses caused by contaminated water.  Over the lives of these filters, they are expected to save the lives of 650 children.
5. The DTC Rotary continues to raise money for new water projects.

Depending on the size of the project, a club can fund the entire project, or partner with another club or organization. A project can be funded entirely at the local level or leverage its funds through matching grants at the District or International levels.

Click on the following links to learn more about our water project and others around the world.

Bio-sand Testimonial Written by Peter Hughes. A must read for anyone wanting to know more about bio-sand water filters and their real life applications. PDF Version

Trip to Dominican Article Written by Liz Martin

District 5450 Water Task Force Site

History of Biosand Filters Practical Use in D.R.Written by Jan Tollefson May 13, 2004

CONNECTING THE DOTS Developing a Model for Sustainable Clean Water Projects. By Margaret Peterson Comfort

Dominican Water Project Now Under Scientific StudyArcticle form Rotary International News by Matthew C. Brown 
DTC March 2005 Trip to Dominican Republic A plea to other Rotarian Clubs and an explanation of bio sand filters
The Bigger Problem & SolutionThe UNC School of Public Health - Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering Letter Dated 3/22/05 
CAWST Training LinkThis is a link to the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology. They also have a page explaining the bio-filter
Clean Water for Haiti

From a Rotarian’s Christmas letter to friends and family, 2004

A very special highlight this past year was a trip to the Dominican Republic in March with some friends from the Denver Technological Center Rotary Club. We visited the projects our club has supported over the years. These include a vocational school for the deaf, another school in one of the worst slums of Puerto Plata and a visit to a house using biosand water filters that provide clean water to up to half of a dozen families. These water filters cost as little as $50 to make, have no moving parts and require little maintenance. Only a few months after our trip, Rotary clubs gave many more of these filters to the Dominican Republic following the dreadful flooding that brought so much misery to the DR and Haiti. However, the highlight of the trip was surely a visit to the clinic Grupo Clara, a safe haven for AIDS mothers of young children. DTC Rotary makes donations to this clinic to purchase milk formula; for you will understand the mothers cannot possibly nurse their children. We met 18 mothers and their children. Seventeen children were HIV negative as a result of the formula. What a wonderfully satisfying and inspirational visit that was.