Sustainable Water Filter Offers Solution to Challenge of Meeting U.N.'s 2015 Goal for Global Access to Safe Water

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- A new survey of Honduran households using the Hydraid® BioSand Filter, a highly effective, lightweight water purification device, has confirmed a prior study conducted by University of North Carolina researchers, which found that the filter is the most sustainable means for cleaning water in developing countries.

The new research, conducted in August by members of Hydraid®'s field implementation team, involved 100 households in multiple locations across Honduras.  The results confirm the filter provides the opportunity to help address the United Nations' ambitious Millennium Goal for access to safe water.  The U.N. has called for halving, by 2015, the proportion of the global population without sustainable access to safe drinking water.

"We visited and surveyed 21 communities in eight municipalities, and in each location, 100 percent of the respondents felt their health improved directly from use of the Hydraid® BioSand Filter," said Rony Meza, Regional Manager for Triple Quest, the international distributor of Hydraid® BioSand Filters, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.  "We also found that the filter is easy for households to use and can last 10 or more years, making it a truly sustainable product."  

The survey supports the findings of UNC's 2008 study, conducted by researchers from the University's Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering.  That study ranked a number of technologies on multiple aspects of sustainability and awarded the Hydraid® BioSand Filter technology the top score, citing its useful life of more than eight years and very low rates of breakage and disuse.  UNC's researchers compared the Hydraid BioSand Filter technology to other technologies such as ceramic filters, which broke or fell into disuse after only six months. In addition to highlighting the Hydraid® BioSand filter's potential for sustained use, it noted the filter's ability to improve water quality and reduce waterborne disease, which each year results in the death of more than 2.2 million people worldwide.

"We remain driven by the urgent need to not only get clean water into more developing countries, but to provide a solution that will be sustainable," said Christina Keller of Triple Quest "We are pleased that our latest survey has shown that in actual, long-term field conditions, the Hydraid®  BioSand Filter lasts for years and is very easy to use and maintain."

"While skepticism has grown about the attainability of the U.N.'s Millennium Goals, including access to safe water, we are confident that Hydraid® can help close the gap," added Keller.  "We have demonstrated the sustainability of our product, and we have the production capacity to help meet the Millennium objective.  Our focus is now on engaging additional partners – from non-profits and faith-based organizations to corporations – who want to help save lives and can offer the resources and distribution capabilities necessary to see this vital effort through."

Triple Quest has teamed with non-profit and corporate partners such as Rotary International, Safe Water Team, Thirsting to Serve, Amway International and many others to bring the filter into needy homes across the developing world.  The filter is currently in use in Honduras, Ghana, Dominican Republic and Haiti.  While significant strides have been made in the Hydraid® distribution effort, there is a great need to expand into other countries and more remote areas of the countries currently being served.

Triple Quest would like to hear from you or your organization regarding your interest in getting more filters to the families that need them.  To donate and learn more about the Hydraid® BioSand Water Filter, please visit http://www.hydraid.org, or contact Deb Walsh at 1-616-854-4222 or [email protected].  To watch the latest video, please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vV0qYWbK0E.  

SOURCE Triple Quest