Point-of-use (POU) household water treatment (HWT) technology has emerged as an approach to water treatment that empowers people and communities to improve water quality by treating it in the home. Several POU technologies are available but, except for boiling, none have achieved sustained, large-scale use. Sustained use of any water treatment technology is essential to providing continuous protection from waterborne disease and death. Household ceramic water filters have been identified as having the potential to become widely used and sustainable for improving household water quality. This method of water treatment overcomes sustainability obstacles by requiring a one-time only purchase, producing sufficient water for daily household use with very little time or effort, and achieving long-term and wide-scale adoption due to high user preference.
SAFE Water Now’s focus on scaling up the availability of ceramic water filters first in Africa then, any where safe water is needed, fulfills a critical and widespread need currently not being addressed on a large scale by public or private sector organizations working in developing countries. SAFE Water Now has an opportunity to expand the availability of its locally manufactured and distributed ceramic water filter by documenting and refining the standards and processes used in its Tanzania operations and, then, replicating the model where ever a sustainable program can be made. Our integrated approach of providing hygiene/hand washing education with every ceramic water filter makes our solution potentially one of the most Sustainable, Affordable, Flexible and Effective (SAFE) available today.
