Chapter 24: Water

El Marcado, Urubamba, Peru, August 24--¨Agua pura! Agua limpia! Ceramica! Filtros de agua! Informacion!¨

Lynn Morrison and I were hawking water filters while ambling down the aisles of the central market in Urubamba. I was shouting and she was passing out small leaflets, telling Urubamba locals, vendors, and campesinos that there was a demonstration of clean drinking water filters just outside the market and down the street. 

ProPeru's Tavia Trulson shows ceramic water filter to Urubamba woman.

Surprisingly, the vendors, who couldn´t leave their stalls, were among the biggest takers. They wanted to know more about pure water, clean water, ceramic water filters and how many soles they cost. But others were interested as well, such as this gentleman who stopped to talk to Amanda Gary and Ena lee, two Global Impact volunteers from Seattle:

Lynn and I were just the latest manifestation of volunteers promoting the Kantu Ceramic Water Filter Project for Pro Peru, the agency coordinating and supporting our public health tourism adventure, Global Impact, which is the program supported by several Seattle community colleges. The Kantu is Peru’s national flower, and It often grows near water sources like rivers and streams. Images of the Kantu typically appear on the side of the water filters like the one below:

Here’s what the flower looks like:

These ceramic pot filters are impressive for their sophisticated simplicity. They are made from a clay, sawdust and water mixture that is pressed, aged and fired in a primitive process developed in Guatemala  in 1981 by an NGO (non-government organization) called “Potters for Peace.”  The design is unpatented. It was shared with the world. The filters meet stringent World Health Organization standards for screening out parasites and killing microbes.

The  world needs these filters. According to ProWorld (the parent organization for Pro Peru), at any time, half the world’s hospital beds are populated with people suffering from water-borne diseases, and about 2 million people die annually from diarrheal diseases, most of them children younger than five. While Lynn and I were promoting the filters, our teammates were back at the ProPeru office doing the “barro (mud) stomp”—crushing and mixing the fine clay from Cuzco with finely-sifted sawdust from local carpenters. Water is then added, and for two hours we mixed this recipe by smooshing it with our bare feet:

Then we crammed the clay into a mold from which the filters were pressed. Afterward they used a 20-ton hydraulic jack – the kind you might use to lift up a tractor or heavy vehicle – to squeeze the clay into shape:

Then  the filters were set aside to dry for  a month, prior to being fired for 12 hours at 850 degrees Centigrade. The mixing, baking temperature, and cooking time are critical because the pores of these ceramic filters have to be the right size, To ensure that water seeps through at the correct rate. The filters are painted with a silver colloidal alloy that will kill microbes that make their way through the pores. They are tested for efficiency prior to use.

Showing us the ropes on filter production and promotion was Mercedes Durand, water filter project coordinator for ProPeru. Born in the province of Urubamba, she received her bachelor's degree in Anthropology from La Universidad San Antonio Abad del Cusco. Upon graduating, she began working at a home for abandoned children and later as director of "Integrando," a pre-university school where she taught social sciences. Additionally, she worked as an Area Director during the 2007 Peruvian national census. 

Mercedes gives the barrow its initial compression before use of the 20-ton jack.

The press we used for initially shaping the pot was designed by Mercedes´ father. As the photos indicate, the press employs a long lever for the initial squeeze, and that 20-ton jack to finish the job.

by next year, ProPeru hopes to have a pressing machine, as well as a way to make its own silver colloid, which is expensive to purchase from Europe.

Linda Nguyen, Seattle, and ProPeru's Ernestina remove greenware from mold.

After drying for 30 days, 36 filters are fired at one time in a large oven, then soaked in water for four hours before being tested for their pour-through rate. Successful filters remove 99.8% of microbes. The filters are set into large plastic collection buckets with faucets such as this one pictured below.

They are rated to last for two years. ProPeru keeps track of the families who have them.

Production is just the first phase of the filters program. The second is public education, and today two teams took turns mixing the clay or working the market to distribute information and keep people aware of the importance of clean water. We set up a demonstration table next to a street mime who danced for dinero, and then several of us broke up into groups of two to yell out our announcements and pass out small information sheets.

We didn´t have to buttonhole. People nodded to us gringos or approached, signaling they wanted the information.

Now that you know a little bit about the filters, here’s a quick quiz:

How many of these Peruvian water-born diseases can you prounounce?

Hepatitis A - Viral disease that interferes with the liver function.

Typhoid fever - A bacterial disease causing high fevers. If left untreated, mortality rates can reach 20%.

Leptospirosis - Bacterial disease causing high fever, severe headache, vomiting, jaundice, and diarrhea. It can result in kidney damage, liver failure, meningitis, or respiratory distress.Recovery can take months.

Schistosomiasis - Caused by parasitic trematode flatworm Schistosoma. Fresh water snails release a larval form ofa  parasite that penetrates the skin of people exposed to contaminated water. Worms mature and reproduce in the blood vessels, liver, kidneys, and intestines releasing eggs, which become trapped in tissues triggering an immune response. It May manifest as either urinary or intestinal disease resulting in decreased work or learning capacity. Mortality, while generally low, may occur in advanced cases usually due to bladder cancer.

Fascioliasis - Occurs in many areas of the world. The Andean highlands of Bolivia and Peru have the highest rates of human infection. Usually recognized as an infection of the bile ducts and liver. Can also affect the gallbladder and pancreas. Nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fever, rash, difficulty breathing.

E. Coli--Think Jack In The Box.

Giardia - A microscopic parasite that causes the diarrheal illness known as giardiasis, which can cause weight loss and failure to absorb fat, lactose, vitamin A and vitamin B12. In children, severe giardiasis might delay physical and mental growth, slow development, and cause malnutrition.

Cryptosporidiosis - A diarrheal disease caused by the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium.

Cyclosporiasis – Transmitted by consuming food or water contaminated with C. cayetanensis. Symptoms include watery diarrhea (sometimes explosive), loss of appetite, bloating, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, muscle aches, low-grade fever, and fatigue.

Let’s put this in perspective:

Children in poor environments often carry 1,000 parasitic worms in their bodies at any time.

Along with diarrhea, Contaminated water causes:

• Fever

• Anemia

• Malnutrition

• Stunted growth and development in children

• Dehydration

• Constipation

• Stomach pains

• Cysts, and

• Gastritis.

Distributing the filters.

Remember CQAcllaraccay? That was the place up near the Maras salt mine where we first flourided the teeth of children, who were also taught the importance of washing their hands. Remember the school’s slogan? (Our children are the generators of hope.)

We went back there on September 2 to provide some of these water filters for the classrooms and help the instructors teach the children about drinking clean water. In the photo below, Drs. Chuck Morrison and Patty Read-Williams relied of ProPeru’s Joe Lerman as translator to the teachers.

 Afterward we got together for a group photo of the school, teachers, kids, filters and that slogan.

other members of our teams met with the youngsters. In the accompanying photo, our pharmacist, Jasvir Karu Singh held in her hands a top, spun by one of the youngsters.

The morning of our visit we brainstormed on the things we needed to tell the instructors. But there was one issue that we couldn’t quite get around: What good does it do for children to drink clean water at school if they just get reinfected at home? They get reinfected in at least two ways – by playing in the dirt where their dogs defecate and leave parasitic worms, and by drinking water with microbes and parasites. We could deal with part of that problem by emphasizing hand washing, but how to deal with the cycle of bad drinking water that comes from the taps such as these?

Here’s my answer: According to John Mundy, a staffer at Pro Peru, there are about 50-60 families in that community. That means kids who are drinking clean water at school are going to return to 50 homes that don’t have clean water, where they will be reinfected.

To me,  breaking that cycle means coming up with 50 filters for those homes. John tells me the filter/bucket combinations cost about 73 soles – about $27 U.S. each. You can’t just buy them outright for the families; they have to have some buy-in. So let’s say they get subsidized at $20 a unit, that’s $1,000 for 50 families.

These are obviously ballpark figures, but if there’s one thing that should be obvious. it is this: There is gonna be some way to do this.

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Agua pura! Agua limpia! Ceramica! Filtros de agua!

Besos y abrasos

Roberto