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One aid group working in Haiti is turning to SMS text messaging to ensure Haitians are keeping their drinking water free of cholera-causing bacteria
February 18, 2011 | 3
Given that few Haitians have access to clean drinking water piped into their homes, aid agencies such as Deep Springs International (DSI) promote the chlorination of water gathered from wells, rivers and streams to make that water potable....[More]
DSI's Gadyen Dlo system serves more than 35,000 families in Haiti (roughly 160,000 people). The organization is hoping to increase this coverage through efficiencies gained by adding SMS text messaging and data management to their distribution and monitoring processes....[More]
DSI and other aid organizations in Haiti focus on treating water at the home rather than at the source because, even if the water sources could be decontaminated, there is a risk of recontamination as the water is brought back to the home....[More]
In addition to delivering chlorine to Haiti's National Directorate of Water Supply and Sanitation (DINEPA) , the government's water and sanitation authority, DSI also delivered chlorine to other organizations such as the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) , Samaritan's Purse and Save the Children ....[More]
It takes 30 minutes for one seven-milliliter capful of Gadyen Dlo solution to kill enough microbes in 19 liters of water for that water to be potable....[More]
After writing the software for DSI's mobile data-collection system in August, Berkeley's Holstius traveled to Haiti to test it. "It's absolutely important to understand the culture where you're deploying something like this," he says....[More]
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3 Comments
Add CommentExcellent idea, combining RFID chips and cell phones to accomplish a difficult but very important task quickly and accurately. Very creative.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI understand that the Cholera germ is killed by boiling temperatures. (Some people feel it's the action of boiling, in both sterilizing and cooking, but I'm quite sure it's only the temperature that does it.) I haven't seen it mentioned yet that one can bring water to that temperature with a relatively small heat source and a principle called counter-current heat exchange. The heat from the boiled water is mostly recovered to heat the incoming water, which needs only a small additional heat source to bring it to boiling.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA minimal system would include a continuous flow of water, a long, straight piece of well insulated pipe, a somewhat longer piece of smaller diameter copper (a good conductor of heat) tubing, a few pipe fittings and a "tank", anything from a standard water heater tank to a covered METAL bucket. The top of the tank should also be insulated. The only heat needing to be added is that lost through insulation, or where it's lacking, and a somewhat higher temperature of output water, depending on the length of the pipe and the quality of insulation.
The insulated pipe is attached to the tank, near the top, in a horizontal position. The copper tubing is straightened, put through the length of the pipe, with the end bent down near the bottom of the bucket. The other end is attached to a water source, maybe a funnel to be kept full with a bucket. The first water through the system should be treated with a Chlorine solution, before heat, perhaps a small fire, is applied and until the tank reaches boiling temperature.
Consult an engineer and a doctor for more details and anything I may have forgotten.
#MoMoCopenhagen #greenclimate #cleantech Excellent idea---cheap $10 cellphones with text messaging are available in the 3rd world, and are a good way of passing on health info in a country without a good infrastructure...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe are working on similar m-health and e-mobile-health solutions for Europe, Asia, and South American
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