3 Questions

By The Samburu Project Posted on Mon 02 Aug 2010, over 14 years ago

Gemma,
Its great that the BSFs can be produced locally with local resources. I have a couple questions about that aspect of the project. First, what is the cost of the production of a BSF? Is it low enough for producers to earn a profit selling BSFs at a market price?
The background section of the application identifies the problem of the the long distances traveled by women and children to access water. Does the project do anything to address this aspect of the problem?
Finally, could you elaborate on how ASD plans to stimulate demand for BSFs?

Regards,
Robert

3 Questions

By A Single Drop Posted on Fri 06 Aug 2010, over 14 years ago

Hi Robert

thanks so much for your questions! It really is a joy to receive input from other implementers and trainers because it can only make our program stronger and more clear!

1) The average cost of the BSF in the regions in Uganda that we are targeting is an average $75US. This includes materials for the construction, labor, transport, IEC and extra materials for the householder (safe storage containers, educational materials), at least 3 follow-up visits. We calculate the costs as if it were a product on the market because this is a microbusiness and we help the women to conduct themselves like a microbusiness creating costing that reflects actual market value of the product as if were run like a professional small business. Other costs that are included in that price that are not directly benefitting the user are marketing costs (promotional materials, community WASH seminars), production facility rental and utilities, and outreach.

Because the costs of the filters are more than some of the lower income households can afford, the women's groups can be contracted by local NGOs or international funders to buy the filters at full price (mostly in bulk) or at a price that can make the filters highly subsidized so that the staff can continue to have a livelihood and all the costs are covered for them to continue their business. This is the market that the women's group has identified as being one of their key clients. We did this with one of our other PWX projects in Mozambique. We knew that the price of these filters when considering all the costs incurred by having a micro-business would make the filter's price higher than most of the community can afford, so the group appealed to NGOs and applied for grants that would pay for the actual costs of the filter construction (as opposed to breaking up the line items by materials, labor, utilities, marketing etc and having the funder decide that they would only fund one line item) This is crucial for a business so that they could continue to function, service the most needy as well as those who can afford it, and be able to offer a When we determined this price,

2) As far as the long distances, 2 of these women's groups have other water technologies that they already offer in their communities. Mostly rainwater harvesting, so their clients have access to alternative water sources already. But for those areas that don't have access to water, these regions, the issue is more that they have access to water but it is highly contaminated

3) We work with the women to create social marketing strategies to promote the filters. Currently, the women are implementing a pilot program to place 25-35 filters in their current communities in key places like schools, local leaders households, very needy households and other people in the communities who are respected in the community because they will be collecting data and interviewing all of them during the next 3 months to find out what they like, don't like, what matters to them, their priorities. From there, we will help them design a marketing strategy based on the testimonials of the people using the filter, and creating some informational and promotional campaigns that will appeal to what the community wants. Also, they will be conducting water testing throughout the pilot to show the effectiveness of the filter which will add value to the social marketing campaigns and help people to see not only that people like it, but that it really works!

I hope that's helpful!

Thanks
gemma

Budget and Photos

By Tanzania Mission to the Poor and Disabled (PADI) Posted on Mon 09 Aug 2010, over 14 years ago

1. Can you attach detailed budget to enable us see how the budget relate with the proposed activities?
2. It is important if we can see few photos showing the actual situation or part of project you are going to solve in the area
Thanks
Msigwa

Re: Budget and Photos

By Blue Planet Network Posted on Thu 12 Aug 2010, over 14 years ago

Yes, please provide a bit more details.

E.g. Where is your office now wrt all the activities?
Where would the safe storage be? Multiple locations? Or at the office?

Photos from your workshops would be great, as well as any photos from the regions.

It would be nice to understand the water sources and their quantity throughout the year. The application background talks about the long distances women & children walk, and that some elderly cannot do this. This project will not change that problem. Please clarify the population for which the project will solve and for how much of the year.

Thanks,
Rajesh

Re: Budget and Photos

By A Single Drop Posted on Mon 23 Aug 2010, over 14 years ago

Hi Msigwa and Rajesh

The first phase of our project, the 3-week training just finished last week and the women's groups are regrouping with their teams to start the action steps towards implementing the 3 month pilot program.

Rajesh, I'm not sure about your safe storage question. Each of the householders/BSF beneficiaries will receive a jerican with a cover that will be their safe storage container.

The program is in 4 communities and each have different sources ranging from dirty river water, contaminated well water, illegal tapping into municipal systems and lake water.

Photos to come! And breakdown of the women's costing that they calculated on their own at the training.

thanks
gemma

Maintenance

By Safer Future Youth Development Project Posted on Sat 31 Jul 2010, over 14 years ago

Hello, nice to see that you are implementing biosand - we hope to do this in the future. I may be mistaken but I was under the impression that the biosand filter requires regular cleaning of the top layer due to clogging, also if the top layer is cleaned improperly, the biolayer can be trapped in the sand and die off causing a bad odour which may affect usage. Do you train the communities on the maintenance of the filter?

Kind Regards,

Idriss

Maintenance

By A Single Drop Posted on Sun 01 Aug 2010, over 14 years ago

Hello Idriss

Thanks for your questions! I hope that someday you'll be able to implement the BSF as well!

There are many answers to your questions so I hope this is clear!

1) Daily Maintenance - the daily maintenance of the BSF is very minimal. In general the daily maintenance is simply to clean the spout, keep the area around the filter clean, ensure that the safe storage is clean.

2) Maintenance due to slow flow rate - after identifying that the flowrate to the filter is slow NOT because of any clog in the piping, then we do a method called "swirl and dump". Basically, it stirs the sand at the top to be suspended in the standing water so that you can empty out that water along with the extra sand to "unclog" the filter mechanism. This timing will vary with every filter based on the turbidity of the user's water source.

3) Biolayer - the biolayer is actually in the top layer of sand. If the filter has been cleaned "improperly" it may only be because too much sand was removed and there is no longer just 2" of standing water, which is the amount of standing water needed for the biolayer to exist and to ensure the "healthy" maintenance of the biolayer. If there is not enough sand, and the standing water level is more than 2" above the sand, then it will indeed impact the effectiveness of the filter as the biolayer is one of the 4 pathogen removal mechanisms of the filter.

Proper maintenance is crucial to the peak effectiveness of the filter. The user is oriented to the filter during the installation. In this orientation, they learn about how it works, how to use and maintain it as well as other proper sanitation and hygiene practices that the household needs to employ to ensured ongoing family health.

Because the BSF is often a very new technology to the community, our team will make sure to conduct several follow-up visits to ensure that the user likes it, to answer any questions, and to check to see if the filter is being used and maintained properly. The first follow-up visit is 2 weeks after installation. The second is about 5 weeks after installation. Other visits will be conducted as needed. The 3rd visit will be in less than 6 months after installation.

I hope that is helpful!

Best
Gemma

Maintenance

By Lifewater International Posted on Mon 02 Aug 2010, over 14 years ago

Idriss,

Yes, you are correct about thei importance of biosand filter maintenance. Community training at the household level is required to make sure at least one family member undertands and is committed to proper filter maintenance. However, people are quick to realize the effectiveness of the filters and are impressed with the health improvements filters bring. We have seen much ownership built and pride in learning and completing proper maintenance. The local biosand program coordinator spot-checks filter maintenance continuously into insure proper use and care. (By the way, the proposal currently submitted to PWX for this cycle does not include a Biosand filter component.)

Maintenance

By A Single Drop Posted on Fri 06 Aug 2010, over 14 years ago

Hi Pat

thanks for your input on the BSF! I'm curious, in your last comment it says "by the way, the proposal currently submitted to PWX for this cycle does not include a Biosand filter component".

I hope we were clear in our proposal because there is a BSF component in this program. That is our main focus. Perhaps there was confusion with our other proposal. But if you are referring to this proposal, maybe you can help us understand where that was not understood that this is specifically a BSF project.

Thanks!
gemma

Re: Maintenance

By Blue Planet Network Posted on Thu 12 Aug 2010, over 14 years ago

Hi Gemma,

I believe Pat was talking about her own (Lifewater's) application where there is no BSF component.

Regards,
Rajesh