Save Lives with Clean Water Filters in Areas of Extreme Poverty

Ning Jiang, UCSB PhD student, shares her research and progress on developing a clean water, bio-sand filter for people living in extreme poverty.

A new, inexpensive bio-sand water filter is being developed to help Safewater International provide clean water to the thousands of people who are living in extreme poverty and vulnerable to death as a result of contamination from bacteria. Safewater International is in partnership with a University California doctoral student who specializes in microbiology and water quality, specifically how fecal bacteria survive outside the gut when excreted in natural aquatic environments.

Ning Jiang is developing a bio-sand filter that utilizes the natural filtration properties of sand and gravel and builds a natural “army” of good bacteria on the surface of the sand. Nano-silver, which is baked on a ceramic block to be dropped in the collection vessel, continues to fight the growth of bacteria in the filtered water.

Sustainability is a key component for this project that also supports the UN Millennium goal to eradicate extreme poverty. By improving the health of those living in extreme poverty and also through education about clean water, this project helps develop local enterprise for maintaining the filters with replacement parts as well as helping families properly build their filter.

You can help through crowd funding this and other scientists who are working to better the planet by visiting the SciFund Challenge website and specifically Ning’s project, Save Lives One Filter at a Time. You can learn more about the SciFund Challenge by listening to last week’s epsiode and blog. You may also enjoy listening to Larry Siegel, founder of Safewater International, or reading our blog about his interview.

For those interested in learning more about the work being done globally to provide clean water, enjoy the Global Water Forum.