Brazil: Water and Sanitation
BioSand water filter success
Maria Joseph and her family live in a Brazilian village where finding safe drinking water is a big challenge. But thanks to Samaritan’s Purse Canada, it’s a challenge Maria has overcome. For the past eight years, her home has had a BioSand water filter, a Canadian invention that’s a key part of the Samaritan’s Purse Turn on the Tap campaign. Made of concrete, metal, and plastic piping, and containing sand and gravel, the filter almost instantly transforms the nearby river’s muddy water into something clear and safe.
“My family hasn’t suffered with diarrhea for many years,” Maria says.
Since 1997, Samaritan’s Purse Canada has helped provide drinkable water about 100,000 families worldwide. It’s hard to over-estimate the difference safe water can make to a family struggling to survive. Millions of people have no choice but to drink water from ponds, puddles or rivers polluted by livestock. The results are often catastrophic. In the developing world, someone dies from water-related diseases every 20 seconds. If they survive, diarrhea and skin ailments keep many from working or attending school. It’s a vicious cycle that guarantees poverty through multiple generations. That’s why Turn on the Tap is a priority for Samaritan’s Purse. BioSand Water Filters cost about $100 each, require little maintenance and don’t need an energy source. Best of all, each filter can supply the daily needs for up to 10 people.
Contributed by Samaritan's Purse Canada