In November 2011, we installed two new chlorinators and were able to accomplish many other important goals. This raises the question: What does International Action do when besides installing chlorinators?
Answer: A whole lot.
We regularly visit chlorinator sites to check up on and maintain the structures. While we we’re there, we meet up with community leaders in order to strengthen our ties with the community, and to help strengthen bonds within the community itself. We want to make sure the devices we’re installing are effective and efficient in reaching the largest number of people. We also carry out residual chlorine tests that can help us monitor the stock of chlorine and the quality of the water in the tanks with chlorinators. Similarly, we restock the chlorinators with chlorine tablets as well as give out granular chlorine to those communities that do not have chlorinators. For instance, in November alone we distributed forty-four buckets of granular chlorine to fourteen sites in Port-Au-Prince and to two sites outside of the city. We also provide granular chlorine to other organizations that can distribute them amongst the areas in which they work. Thanks to BRAC we set up two chlorinators in November. BRAC (Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee) is an international aid organization that expanded into Haiti in 2010 after the earthquake. We paired up with the health branch of BRAC in order to combat cholera. Their program helped design a clean water structure in a school that channeled rainwater. We then put a 2,000-gallon water tank on the site located in Port-Au-Prince.
Recently, we have been preparing for our expansion into Jacmel. In order to find out what chlorinator sites would be most effective, we have been carrying out studies surveying the area and speaking with community members. Our first chlorinator was installed in December.
Advertisement
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
About internationalaction
Some 1.2 billion people in developing countries lack safe water to drink, according to the United Nations. Over half the hospital beds in poor countries are occupied by people with preventable diseases from unsafe water. At least 2 million people -- most of them infants and children -- die annually from waterborne disease. Unsafe water is now the single largest cause of illness worldwide. Installation of our new special chlorinators worldwide could reduce these numbers dramatically. Only two hours south of Miami, Haiti is an excellent location to demonstrate our new chlorine system. The World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, U.S. AID, the U.N. Development Program, and many important non-governmental groups, all, work in Haiti. We have taken the staff from several of these institutions to visit our sites, and will continue this effort. Through them, we hope to spread the use of our new chlorine technology and organization techniques to Asia, Africa and elsewhere in Latin America.
THE PROBLEM: In Haiti, contaminated water is the leading cause of infant mortality and illness in children. Germs for hepatitis, cholera, and chronic diarrhea are carried in water used for cooking and drinking. Nearly every water source in Haiti has become contaminated with human waste because of the absence of a sewage sanitation system.
Haiti now has the highest infant mortality rate in the western hemisphere. The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) reported that more than half of all deaths in Haiti were due to water-borne gastro-intestinal diseases.
THE SOLUTION: Our chlorinators provide reliable water protection. Tablet chlorinators provide a steady, preset level of chlorination persists in the water for many days. This provides dependable protection against the disease-causing bacteria common in the buckets, home storage tanks, and local piping in poor communities.
Chlorination is safe and easy to maintain, and no electricity is needed. Unlike gas and liquid chlorine, which are dangerous and unstable, our chlorine tablets are stable enough to store in difficult conditions and safe enough to be handled by amateurs.
