Our Work
Frequently Asked Questions
1) Why is it important to invest in water?
2) What is Samaritan’s Purse doing to respond?
3) How much does a BioSand Filter cost?
4) How does the BioSand Filter work?
5) Are the filters a sustainable solution?
6) How are BioSand Filters constructed?
7) If the problem is so big, can a household filter really make a difference?
8) How do the filters benefit the families who receive them?
1) Why is it important to invest in water?
The need for improved drinking water is urgent. About 884 million people live without access to safe water for drinking, bathing, and household chores. Lack of clean water contributes to the death of more than 1.4 million children from diarrheal diseases annually. That means that a child dies every 20 seconds as a result of contaminated water. This cannot go on.
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2) What is Samaritan’s Purse doing to respond?
Technologies and methods exist to bring improved water and sanitation practices to even the most remote areas. One technology is the BioSand Water Filter. It’s an affordable, sustainable household technology, proven to be very effective in improving the quality of water to make it safe for drinking, cooking, bathing, and cleaning.
Samaritan’s Purse is responding with Turn on the Tap, a global initiative to partner with groups and families in the developing world to operate our Household Water Program. The program centres on the BioSand Water Filter and incorporates construction and installation, maintenance, follow-up, training in use of the filter and in safe water practices, and training in hygiene and sanitation.
Thanks to the generosity of our donors, Samaritan’s Purse International has built and installed more than 104,000 filters during the past 11 years – providing life-sustaining water to more than 832,000 people who are living in rural communities in 25 countries throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Samaritan’s Purse Canada plans to build and install at least another 2,000 filters per month during our Turn on the Tap program.
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3) How much does a BioSand Filter cost?
The average worldwide cost of a filter – which normally serves a household of 8-10 people – is only $100. That includes the cost of materials, construction, installation, and transportation, and the cost of our associated Household Water Program which provides monitoring and training on the filter’s operation and important health and hygiene education.
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4) How does the BioSand Filter work?
Invented by a Canadian, Dr. David Manz of Calgary, the BioSand Water Filter is an adaptation of the natural process of slow sand filtration. Layers of gravel and sand collect and trap organic contaminants within the filter, while allowing water to pass through. Organic material, parasites, protozoa, and other micro-organisms are trapped in the first few centimetres of sand.
The organic material and organisms eventually develop into a biological layer. Together, the organisms in this layer comprise an intensely active, complex food chain – digesting organic matter and disease-causing parasites, bacteria and viruses. Research shows that a BSF can reduce microbial contaminants in water by 95 to 99.5 percent (according to a University of North Carolina study in 2006), including eliminating 100% of worms, parasites, and particulate matter. This dramatically reduces the incidence of infection and disease from contaminated water.
BioSand Water Filters can last for many years with only basic maintenance by their owners. They are constructed on-site from local materials, and have no electrical or mechanical parts to wear out. The flow rate of the filters is usually 60 litres per hour, enough to supply the basic needs of a family.
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5) Are the filters a sustainable solution?
BioSand Filters have been working in the field for over ten years, and worldwide follow-up studies show that 98% of recipients use their filters regularly. The filters have no moving parts, no mechanical or electrical components, require only simple maintenance that can be performed by the recipient, and require no fuel or electricity. This combination of factors makes the BioSand Filter an extremely sustainable solution that is well-suited for remote areas of the developing world.
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6) How are BioSand Filters constructed?
The construction process begins with preparing the steel mould. A PVC pipe that will eventually carry the clean water out of the filter is cut and inserted. The next step is mixing concrete and pouring it into the mould. The concrete is then allowed to harden for several days.
Once the filter is removed from the mould, trained staff place it in the beneficiary’s household and fill it with layers of sand that have been carefully selected and prepared.
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7) If the problem is so big, can a household filter really make a difference?
The filters, when coupled with our Household Water Program, improve the health of families, so parents and children can continue to go to work or school. This enables them to escape the vicious cycle of poverty that hampers economic and social development for individuals, communities and entire nations.
One of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals is to reduce by half the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015. International support is building to see this goal realized, and technologies such as the BioSand Water Filter exist to make it happen.
The problem is large, but by working together we can make an enormous difference. According to the World Health Organization and UNICEF, the health improvements from a 50 percent reduction in the number of people without access to safe drinking water would result in an extra 272 million school attendance days and 320 productive work days each year in the developing world, resulting in major economic and social benefits.
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8) How do the filters benefit the families who receive them?
The benefits to quality of life provided by the filters are substantial. Studies have shown that the filter can reduce diarrheal illnesses by up to 40%, which has a tremendous impact on the overall health and productivity of a family and entire communities. Access to safe water improves prenatal and pediatric health and lessens malnutrition and dehydration, to name just a few specific health benefits.
Work productivity and school attendance increase due to fewer sick days, and improved health means families are able to spend less of their meager incomes on medicines, improving their overall quality of life. Individuals benefit; so do families, communities and entire nations.
The environmental outlook of communities where the filters are used is also improved through a reduction in deforestation and air pollution, since less wood is needed to boil water.
Kim, in Cambodia
Kim is a fisherman who earns $2 a day fishing the Mekong River in Cambodia. He and his family of eight depend on the river for their bathing, cleaning, and drinking water. However, the Mekong River is polluted.
“The river water is very contaminated,” Kim confirms, noting he and his family used to be plagued by diarrhoea, dysentery, and skin problems. “We had to spend a lot of money on medicines.”
But since receiving a BioSand Water Filter from Samaritan’s Purse and its Cambodian partner in 2001, Kim and his family are drinking more water than they ever have before, and have experienced dramatic health improvement: “My children haven’t been sick since we started using the filter, and we don’t need to spend our money on medicine.”
Magarita in El Salvador
Magarita can offer her own encouraging perspective.
“Life has changed because of the water filter – especially for us,” she says. “We don’t have to walk anymore to find water or to buy it. We have felt the change in the water we now drink. We cannot simply drink the water from the well if we don’t filter it, because it hurts our stomachs and makes us vomit, and it even makes me dizzy. This is where we’ve been able to prove that the filters really do work. We say the filters are a blessing from God that has come to us here.”
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Ways You Can Help
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Pray
Please pray that God will continue to provide direction to Samaritan’s Purse, as we respond to people’s needs, share the love of Christ, and serve the church worldwide. |  | GiveThe need is urgent. A child is dying every 20 seconds in the developing world from diarrhoeal diseases caused by polluted water. Donate Here.
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