Rationale
In spite the over thousands of “safe” water points created
in rural Africa, the results of bacteriological water tests in many studies
showed that the quality of the water used at the household level is normally
below acceptable standards. Consequently, water borne diseases such as
diarrhoea, typhoid and cholera remain epidemic.
The reason for the poor water quality at household level is twofold. On
one hand, the groundwater at the water source is often already polluted
(due to poor protected sources and the presence of latrines near these
water sources, or simply because of poor maintenance of a piped water
system).
On the other hand, people have no secure means of storing water at home.
Often they use traditional clay pots which are difficult to clean and
to use in a hygienic way) also offers many opportunities for recontamination.
The water may be somewhat cooler in the pot, but is also often contaminated.
When aware of these problems, most people boil the water before drinking.
However, boiling of water is cumbersome, expensive and also uses large
quantities of charcoal, firewood or other energy. On top of that, the
boiled water should also be stored in a safe way. In towns were a water
company adds some chlorine to the water, the chlorine rests also disappears
with the boiling and the water remains without any protection. Storage
remains a problem.
Kisii Water filter in Kenya
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Kisii Water filter in Niger
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Related Environmental problem
It is estimated that at least 5 % of the household energy consumption
is used for boiling of water in Africa. The use of energy to boil water
creates an additional stress to the environment because there is already
a high pressure on the forest resources that are increasingly used for
production of charcoal for cooking..
Maintenance
The filter system needs only a minimum of maintenance (regular cleaning
of the outside of the ceramic element and inspection and cleaning of the
inside of the buckets). The filter candle can be used for six month up
to several years, depending on the quality of the water to be filtered.
Two types of ceramic filters candles are recommended:
1. A “slow speed” ceramic filter candle, made in India, costs
about 1 US$ (in local shops) and can filter 3 litres of water per day.
This candle can be impregnated with silver for additional security.
2. A “high speed” filter, with additional silver and active
carbon already inside, made in Brazil, costs about 3US$ and can produce
25 litres of safe water per day.
The filter bucket is transparent. Users can see how much water is present
both in the filter unit and in the lower storage unit. It also is directly
visible when the filter candle needs to be cleaned. This improves trust
and a better management of the available water in the household.
We believe that also in other countries in Africa and all over the world,
more promotion of this simple solution could bring relief to many families,
especially those who cannot afford expensive solutions to improve their
water quality situation at home.
Demonstration Kisii Water Filters
in Burkina Faso
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Pozzani replacement candles can be orderded with us for about 4,0 US$ for NGOs |
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Impact
The impact of the Kisii Filter Bucket can be summarised as:
- Impact on health, on short and long term the health conditions are
improved and secured, because safe and clean water in sufficient quantities
is always available at home with a Kisii Filter Bucket.
- Social impact, due to the low cost safe water becomes now available
for a large group of people. Availability often goes with affordability.
- Impact on availability of safe water. The filter system has a large
storage, so safe water is not likely to run out and more available.
Traditionally, people store household water in a clay pot, which was
cumbersome to use in a hygienic way and difficult to clean inside.
- Impact on hygiene awareness. It is more convenient and hygienic to
use a tap than to scoop water from a claypot. The tap symbolises also
clean water.
- Impact of household daily costs. As boiling of the water is no longer
required with the filter, less money is spend on the use of charcoal
and other energy sources.
- Impact on efficient water use. Due to the tap, people take only the
exact quantity of water out of the bucket that is needed, so finally
less water is wasted or thrown back into the claypot.
- Impact on Children. When introduced to safe water from a filter, it
creates a clear reference for children to value safe water. Traditionally,
children also used to scoop drinking water from a clay pot, a container
and are not aware about the quality aspects of water.
- Environmental impact, boiling of the water is no longer required with
the filter; the use of charcoal and other energy sources is less, the
environment and forest benefits from this every day.
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Stakeholder Participation
The users of the Kisii Filter buckets are important stakeholders. Their
participation and feed back revealed the following aspects:
- Most people actually want to see the filter element and the clean
water inside. This created trust in the system and motivates people
to use it.
- Users become promoters. People who buy the Kisii filter buckets and
use it in their households appreciate the benefits and start automatically
to advocate the system with its low price to neighbours and friends,
promoting safe drinking water in other households as well.
- Cost recovery is possible. The Kisii Filter bucket is not a sponsored
project, people can pay for their filter system. The small profit is
re-used in producing even more filter systems. In this way, the distribution
of the Kisii Filter bucket is taking off by itself due to the indirect
financial participation of the beneficiaries.
Workshop with a woman group to introduce the Kisii Water Filter
Sponsored by Cordaid, The Netherlands
(Photo Rural Water Development Project, Kisii, Kenia)
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Sustainability aspects
The sustainability of the Kisii filter bucket profits from the following
aspects:
- There is a high need for the filter buckets. In fact every household
in Africa needs this product, not only in the rural areas, but also
in the cities, where people do not trust the water of the Water Company.
Most people now feel that it is better to organise themselves a safe
water supply in their home, because there is no external agency that
takes responsibility for the quality of the water source.
- The Kisii Filter bucket is very cheap, compared to any other household
water filter system on the market. This means that many people can buy
and will buy this concept, the price will go down even further and availability
will improve, as more organisations and also the commercial private
sector will start to distribute this cheaper concept.
- People are prepared to pay the real cost of the buckets. Unlike other
sponsored activities that stop when the funding has ended, this concept
can always be reproduced and made available, as it is a 100 % cost recovery
action.
- The Kisii Filter bucket is made from good quality materials. The filter
element needs replacement after some years, but we expect that the PVC
bucket itself with the tap will function for at least 10 years. That
means that it will last for a very long time with low operational costs,
which promotes sustainability.
- The Kisii Filter bucket uses a standard ceramic filter candles. These
filters are not specifically made for the Kisii Filter bucket, but already
normally available in many shops throughout the world. It is expected
that with increasing popularity of the Kisii Filter bucket system, also
the availability of these standard filters will increase and the prices
of the individual filters will go down.
Obstacles for the sustainability could be that when people are not motivated
too regularly clean the filter and the bucket, this may on the long run
influence the effectiveness of the system and damage the reputation of
the filter system.
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Prices of the Kisii Filter Bucket system
The Kisii Filter System can provide about 100 litres of safe water per
week.
A complete set is already available for 10 US$
“ But I can also make it myself; why should I buy this?”
Correct, we encourage people to please do so, it is not difficult at
all, however, we point out that they should use the right materials.
Other reactions are:
“ This is so simple, I could also easily have invented it myself”.
Also correct, but the fact is that the concept as we developed it, especially
with the transparent buckets, had not yet really been developed and promoted!
The only “problem” that we heard of with the Kisii Filter
Bucket is that people who start using it at home, do not want to live
without it anymore. It becomes a true friend in the family, to be used
every day, day after day.
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Technology and innovation aspects
- Innovation in using local available materials (two simple PVC buckets
with a small tap). This system supplies therefore a realistic solution
to an unsolved problem, “how to easily have safe water at home”.
Most households (before being introduced to the Kisii Filter bucket)
were even not even aware of any alternative of treatment of water other
than boiling.
- Technology used is in fact the natural filtering capacity of ceramic
stone. In the “high speed filter” this is also combined
with the sterilising effect of silver inside the stone and the absorption
capacity of active carbon.
- The tap that is used is a high quality PVC tap that closes by itself.
This type of tap has a very high resistance against leakage, also after
many years of use.
- The design is original and can be used to make larger filter bucket
combinations as well. When using larger PVC buckets with 5 to 8 filters
inside, the Kisii Filter bucket system can easily provide 100 litre
of safe drinking water per day for hospitals, schools, and kitchens
in restaurants and hotels.
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Other applications
Additional Fluoride or Arsenic filter unit
- The Kisii Filter bucket can also be used to remove a high Fluor or
Arsenic content of the water, in case the water source has too much
of these elements. For this purpose, additional filter material is added
to the top bucket and placed around the ceramic candle.
How does it work?
The stone of the filter candle slowly absorbs the water, but the germs
cannot enter in the stone, so the filtered water is now save to drink.
Boiling or chemicals are no longer required for most water sources. You
can use a slow speed filter or high-speed filter. The high-speed waterfilter
gives more water, but is more expensive, it also contains silver in the
stone to kill the germs and Carbon to improve the taste of the water.
The lower bucket collects the clean and save water and makes it available
with a tap.
Ceramic filter element with
activated coal and colloidal silver inside.
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A small hole is drilled in the lower bucket
to mount a simple plastic tap
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How to start?
- Remove the candle from the box and clean the outside of the filter
with water, always avoid touching the filterstone with your hands; hold
the filter at the bottom.
- Put the sprout of the filter candle in the hole(s) in the bottom of
the top bucket and also through the hole(s) in the cover of the lower
bucket.
- Make sure that on the lower side and on the topside the sprout is
sealed with the rubber seals, firmly attach the bolt to avoid leakage
around the sprout.
- Place the cover with the filter bucket attached to it on the lower
bucket.
- Fill the top filter bucket with water, use a scoop.
- Within some minutes, the water will drip out of the filter; the first
water can contain some dirt, so throw away the first litres of water
and only start using the filter after that.
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How to maintain your filter bucket?
For the best results of your filter bucket system, you should:
- Clean gently the outside of the filterstone every week to remove
some dirt, use a clean brush or scotsbrite, but never use soap.
- Inspect the inside of both buckets every week and clean it when necessary.
- Keep the unit on one secure place out of the sun; do not walk around
with the filter bucket.
- Use always a scoop to fill up the top bucket as much as possible,
the filters works faster when the waterlevel is above the filterstone.
- Normally the filter can stay inside the bucket when cleaning. In case
the filter is removed from the top bucket for cleaning or replacement,
be sure that the filter is re-installed properly, with the rubber seals
on place.
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