• Domaine :

  Water

• Région :

  Pacific

• Pays :

  Fidji Islands

The project:

Water filters

date:     11 mars 2014 23:14
Jean and Fatima,
This is some more information about the Fiji water filter project I am leading that you found posted on the Rotary Global Grants website at http://www.matchinggrants.org/global/project710.html
I'd appreciate it if you could consider donating and/or pass the information along to others who may be interested in helping Fijian villagers.
I was motivated to initiate this project after several visits to Fiji.  Fiji has friendly people,  tropical scenery, and pristine reefs!  Our Fiji friends and their communities have a serious problem – let’s help them out.
The Problem – Unsafe drinking water
The villages in the Savusavu area suffer from chronic outbreaks of water borne diseases like typhoid, leptospirosis, and dysentery.  These diseases effect everyone in the family; the men and women who miss work, the grandparents at home taking care of the babies and the children who are absent from school because they are sick with diarrhea.
Although surrounded by rainwater and lush vegetation, I had no idea that Fijians don’t have safe drinking water.  I first heard about the water problem from Millie at the Koro Sun Resort.  Millie told me that the rainwater stored in the volcanic rock catchments is contaminated from vegetation and runoff, particularly after heavy rains, and makes people sick so the water is not safe to drink.  I saw this first hand on Namena where I saw our boat captain, Vitale, down by the staff quarters boiling water to drink. Vitale explained that the Fiji government tells Fiji villagers to boil all their water prior to consumption. Here I was, drinking filtered and bottled water in my bure while the friendly, helpful Fijians were either drinking diseased water or boiling it!  Imagine the time and fuel required - fuel they do not have!
According to the Fiji government, 50% of all Fijians use disease laden water sources.  Serious diseases pop up in every village and right now villages in the Savusavu area are designated “hot spots” with dangerous water borne diseases.
The Solution – inexpensive home water filters
I decided to give back to the kind Savusavu area villagers who have enriched my life. I teamed up with local Rotary clubs and the Rotary Club of Savusavu along with the Give Clean Water nonprofit organization and the Fiji Ministry of Health and worked with them to come up with a sustainable solution.  This project will install water filters in every home, clinic and school in 3-4 villages in the Savusavu area and train every family member on how to use them.  The filters will also be maintained once a month by the Fiji Ministry of Health for 10 years.  This is a proven solution.  Give Clean Water has used this approach over the past 3 years in other “disease hot spot” villages of Fiji. Today the simple Sawyer micropore filters are still working and every family in every village has been disease free ever since they started.

Thank you very much!
Debra Gookin
Point Luma Rotary Club, California

Financial contributions: