Safe drinking water for Ugandan familiesIn Uganda, fourty million people lack access to a clean source of water. This leads to health, social, economic and environmental problems. To make water safe for drinking, most families boil it, using wood, charcoal or other biomass which puts pressure on forests. Many people are unaware of the health risks and continue to drink unsafe water. Water borne illnesses like diarrhea are a leading cause of death for children under the age of five, exceeding deaths from either malaria or AIDS.
To help address these challenges, the Spouts project has developed an innovative business approach. It manufactures and distributes the so-called Purifaaya ceramic water filters to low income families, allowing them to purify and disinfect drinking water at home. The filters eliminate 99.9 percent of bacteria and can hold 20 liters of water. They are an affordable, effective, sustainable and easy to use solution for providing safe water. One filter costs 25 USD and lasts up to 5 years. A specific XL model has been created and is used at schools and in refugee. The project aims to reach 5 million Ugandans, or 14 percent of the population, by 2025.
How does technology for clean drinking water help fight global warming?Two billion people in the world have no access to clean drinking water. Many families have to boil their drinking water over an open fire, resulting in CO
2 emissions and deforestation. Where water can be cleaned chemically (e.g. with chlorine) or mechanically (with filters), or where groundwater can be provided from wells, these CO
2 emissions can be avoided. Clean drinking water projects in the ClimatePartner portfolio are registered with
international standards.
