Improved Health through Clean and Safe Water – The Bio-Sand Water Filter
According to the World Health Organization, Tajikistan has the worst access to drinking water in the former Soviet Union. Over 52 percent of the population contracts one or more waterborne diseases every year, and 42 percent of the population has no access to safe clean water . The poorest families are least likely to have access to a decent water supply. More than half of the rural population, around 3 million people, rely on irrigation water in the summer and water wagons in the winter for their daily water needs.
Habitat Tajikistan in partnership with local NGOs and Sanitary-Epidemiological Stations implements a project in rural communities of the Khatlon and Sughd regions of the country. It is designed to improve the health of the population by enhancing the quality of drinking water through health education, ownership of natural resources, and the installation of water reservoirs and bio-sand water filters.
Habitat is positively impacting these communities through the introduction of environmentally friendly and sustainable technology. The bio-sand water filter is inexpensive, sustainable, requires no chemicals or electric power, and can be assembled from locally available materials. The bio-sand water filter eliminates over 90 percent of waterborne diseases and parasites and produces up to 60 liters of improved water per hour. This is sufficient to cater for 18 people. With regular maintenance and servicing, the system can last for up to 20 years.
So far, in the Kumsangir and Konibodom districts more than 27,000 residents have been provided with access to improved drinking water through the distribution of more than 1500filters, and a total of 2,523 families benefited from this project.
Habitat for Humanity Tajikistan is an active member of Tajikistan’s Water Supply and Sanitation Network, which is supported by the Swiss Development Agency (SDC) and facilitated by Oxfam Great Britain.
Over the course of the 2012 fiscal year, Habitat Tajikistan plans to distribute up to 500 water filters.
Habitat for Humanity Tajikistan is partnering with families to provide clean, safe drinking water through specially-designed water filters.
