WiserEarth UK

Aladimma Owerri, Nigeria -- Facing widespread cases of gastrointestinal problems due to contaminated water, there had to be a solution. Teaching people basic domestic sanitation practices and development of healthy lifestyles included encouraging people to boil water. This raised the cost hurdle of boiling the water or treating with aluminum. 

 

Joachim Ezeji formulated the idea for the Rural African Water Development Project (RAWDP) in 2000. As Program Officer with an engineering company, sub-contracted by Shell Petroleum, Ezeji oversaw project maintenance of 14 community water and sanitation schemes. In the course of his job, Joachimnoticed social and water quality issues in need of attention, and envisioned an organization to address these gaps.

To promote public health through appropriate intervention in household water treatment and sanitation, particularly in the environmentally ravaged communities in Nigeria.

 

Methods of daily domestic (point of use rather than point of source preventing potential recontamination) water filtration in the Niger delta region vary according to what people can afford. Methods include (1) boiling water, least expensive, (2) Moringa "dosing" sedimentation, (3) Biosand filter, (4) Alum, which is most expensive.

 

The advantage of using Morsand Filtration when other options are cheaper is that despite initial cost, maintenance costs are zero, it is sustainable and the physical structure more durable. Filtering statistics for the biosand Moringa filter include turbidity: 99.5%; suspended solids: 98%; bacteria: 90-99% (1-4 log units); water hardness: 100% (WB?)

• 500 filters are in use;
• 1100 children have been saved from everyday diarrheal diseases;
• School attendance and job performance improves with improved health: over 1500 school attendance days for children have been saved;
• Jobs have been created for 60 youths now working on the production of the filters;
• More than 15 communities have been trained (800-1000 people, men and women on basic hygiene issues);
• Ten youths in each community have been trained in the Mor-Sand technology (70 to date);
• Community environments experience positive conservation impact as the filters do not require electricity or fuel and do not need clay and humus soils topsoil remains intact and saved in regionally sensitive ecosystem;
• Since 2005, Moringa farmers have cultivated over 2000 acres in the region with potential for becoming a new agricultural market;
• Documented reports assist market researchers or students to assess new markets;
• Hygiene Education to complement and consolidate an environmentally sound project benefits all communities and heightens health awareness.

• Mobility in the region is very difficult, having very rough terrain. Speed boats are needed to move from one place to another.
• Vehicles (trucks) to move equipment and personnel to sites. There is only one at the moment.
• Funding: US $400,000 needed to reach 2010 Millennium Development Goal for water.

When community water sources include piped systems, bore holes and surface water, rain collection. Human, livestock, mineral and organic pollutants occurring individually or in combination.

In 2004, Joachim's research into different technologies of Biosand water filtration received CIDA funding to attend a workshop on this technology at Calgary Montreal College in Canada. Returning to Nigeria, leadership of RAWPD came together and faced the challenge of raising the $3000 necessary to set up a production facility.

 

That year the African Development Bank had its 48th anniversary and called for innovative projects from the continent. The application for funds to mass produce the filters won first prize of US$40,000. Production of Morsand filters was initiated and the increased publicity resulted in visits by interested community leaders to the production site and further expanded public awareness of the project.

 

Pursuing studies worldwide, including the UKs Leicester University showed Moringa to perform as a strong coagulant. Coagulant properties refer to the ability to trap together all particles in the water and settle them to the bottom of the water container. So, how to blend Moringa and biosand to get an improved filter?

 

Alliances and partnerships were established with local Nigerian Universities and the Federal University of Technology graduate students. Further partnerships with Federal University of Technology (grad students) & a lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University of Zaire. Joachim found that everyone was interested in this increasingly popular technology. Traveling to the UKs Water Engineering Development Centre of Longborough University also opened onto research being conducted at UC Berkley and University of Calgary conducting projects in Honduras. RAWDP received a three year $190,000 grant from the World Bank in 2005 to set up seven manufacturing sites in 7 communities, produce a minimum of 1000 filters and train 70 community youths to be clean water entrepreneurs, producing filters for sale in environmentally degraded oil producing communities in the Niger Delta. Six sites have been set up with each producing 100 filters.

 

In 2006 a blended technology test was configured and the community of Uboma was identified to host . The single well for the community was infested with e-coli bacteria. Partnering with the Womens groups, it was decided that they would buy all materials. The RAWDP transported only the metal mold necessary for casting the filter body. A number of them were produced and installed in households. The filters proved to be huge success and a massive cholera outbreak was averted. News of this achievement resulted in an invitation from the World Water Forum in Mexico to talk about the Uboma experience.

Sand, gravel, water for construction by communities (never paid for that, accommodation for staff (live & work with them); Website Morsand donated by Engineers for a Sustainable World by NY Univ at Buffalo.