Fiji Clean Water Project – An Awesome Humanity Project!

We have a really cool customer story to share about how a group in California are making a difference for people in Fiji. In the country of Fiji, with extremely abundant rainfall, at least half of Fijians live without clean water. Because so much of the water is unclean, Fijians are constantly dealing with outbreaks of typhoid, amoebic dysentery, e. coli, and leptospirosis. You can read more about the craziness of the issue by  Clicking Here.

A group in California heard about the problem and decided to figure out a way to help the Fijians clean up their drinking water. They decided that the solution had to be able to completely clean the water, be simple to operate and maintain, be relatively cheap to build, not use any chemicals or electricity, and be easy to duplicate. After several idea’s and tests, they created a really awesome watering purifying station that met all of their goals.

The station consists of a couple of buckets, a super fine micron filter, a stand to put it all on, and instructions on how to use it. We were privileged to be a part of the project by supplying some of our 5 gallon 75 micron bucket filters and some 10 micron bag filter cloth sheets that go in the top bucket and act to prefilter the water of any dirt & grime. The water then flows down into another bucket through a 0.1 micron sanitary filter that further removes any bugs or disease laden organisms.

Once they had a design, they began to build them. With a group effort they were able to construct several Safe Water Stations and prepare them to take to Fiji.

Once constructed, they worked on a way to get them to Fiji. Once in Fiji, they set up training courses with the locals to show them how to use the water stations.

The training is done in close partnership with the Fiji Ministry of Health and their employees, nurses who live in each village, and can train each family in their own dialect. The villagers ask questions freely and the nurses follow up with them every month. 

By training the Fijians through their own people, it’s allowed the group to deploy the filtration systems without disrupting the Fiji village culture too.

Once trained, the Fijians take the water stations home and set them up for use.

Check out the difference! Here’s how water was treated BEFORE the water stations. Boiled over an open flame in a cast iron cooking pot.

And here’s how water is purified now. Through an easy to use water filtration station.

The success was overwhelming! Those with these portable Safe Water Filtration Stations were able to easily get water to drink that was safe and would help keep them from getting sick from the water.

After 8 months of use and even a super cyclone hitting the island, the water stations were still working great! With it’s success, the group decided to build even more stations and deploy them in more villages in Fiji.

They built 300 additional stations and deployed them into different villages in Fiji. Here they’re building the stations.

When delivering the stations, they take them anywhere they can. Whether by boat or walking through rivers, they deliver them wherever they can.

So, how well has the program gone? Well, glad you asked! They’ve now built and deployed several hundred water filtration stations  in the entire Nabalebale district on the island of Vanu Levu. That’s a water station in every home, every school, and every clinic. It’s giving over 3000 Fijians comprehensive access to clean, safe, disease-free water.

So far they’ve built several hundred stations and as time and donations allow they continue to build more. It’s given over 3000 Fijians comprehensive access to safe, disease-free water.

The group, known officially as the Fiji Home Water Filters is funded by several great groups. Primarily, support is given by the following organizations.

However, the organization also accepts donations from the general public as well. Details on how to donate to the project are found here

The team is headed up by Debra Gookin from the Point Loma Rotary Club in San Diego and Jeff Mather from the Savusavu Rotary in Fiji.

We think what they’re doing is just flat out awesome! Bringing clean drinking water to Fijians who otherwise are stuck with dirty water that brings sickness and disease with it. We’re excited to see how it continues as they continue to build and bring additional stations to Fiji as time and donations allow.

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