Klorfasil Safe Water Program

What's new:

Longtime program friend Bernard Celestin has accepted the position of Assistant Program Director for the Klorfasil Safe Water Program in Haiti.  Bernard has been very active on behalf of the program over the past three years with management planning, coordination of shipments, material production and logistics, and issues relating to the importation of critical supplies.  All of us at the Klorfasil Safe Water Program are pleased that Bernard is willing to help acheive our commitment to provide safe and affordable drinking water to the people of Haiti.

Introduction:  Point of use water quality intervention for developing countries

Approximately 1.1 billion people do not have access to an improved drinking water source. Most of these people have no choice but to drink water from unimproved sources such as rivers, lakes and streams. Water from these sources is often contaminated with viruses and bacteria such a E. coli. Drinking impure water results in an estimated 4 billion cases of diarrhea and 2.2 million deaths each year.

In Haiti, one child out of 8 will not live to see his or her 5^th birthday. Approximately 25% of these children will die as a result of poor sanitation and/or diarrheal diseases resulting from impure drinking water.

Beginning in January of 1999, The Catholic Church of Saint Monica in Duluth, Georgia began an outreach program with a sister parish - Sacred Heart Church in Hinche, Haiti. In January of 2000, the first medical mission to Hinche was organized and it has been followed by many more missions over the past 8 years. Eventually these medical mission efforts were augmented by the construction and operation of a year round clinic staffed by Haitian doctors and nurses.

In the course of treating thousands of patients over the past nine years, it became apparent that the main health problems faced by persons visiting the clinic are: 1) insufficient nutrition and, 2) a lack of clean drinking water. To address these health problems, the Catholic Church of Saint Monica has instituted two programs: 1) a year round "soup kitchen" which is open five days each week and serves 100 to 150 people each day and, 2) a Safe Water Program to provide clean drinking water to the people of Hinche.

Household Water Treatment and Storage Systems:

Point of use water purification programs such as the Safe Water System as promulgated by the United States Centers for Disease Control use the simplest and least expensive technology available to provide drinkable water to the greatest number of people possible. The Safe Water System consists of three primary components:

1. Storing water in the home, at the point of use, in plastic containers with a lid and a spigot to prevent recontamination.

2. Treatment of water in the plastic containers using some form of chlorine.

3. Social marketing, promotion and education to increase awareness of the link between contaminated water and disease, the benefits of safe water and hygiene behaviors, and the importance of the proper use of the water storage vessel and disinfectant.

For more information on the Safe Water System, please visit the CDC's website at http://www.cdc.gov/safewater/index.htm.

How the Klorfasil Safe Water System is Different:

The technical name for the granulated chlorine product used in the Klorfasil System is 56% sodium dichloroisocyanurate dihydrate. This products is approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency for routine treatment of drinking water and is certified by the National Sanitation Foundation to ANSI standard 60 for this use. Advantages of this granulated chlorine product include:

1. It is not hygroscopic and will remain free flowing in hot and humid tropical environments

2. It is easy and inexpensive to transport because it is not a regulated hazardous material

3. It has a long shelf life - it can be stored up to 5 years even in hot and humid tropical environments

4. It is relatively inexpensive

5. Its granular form and consistent grain size make it possible to dose accurately in small quantities

Dispensing Granulated Chlorine:

The use of granulated dichloroisocyanurate in a Safe Water System water intervention is possible as a result of the Klorfasil dispensing device. The trade name is a composite of two words: "Klor" for "chlorine" and "fasil" which is the Creole word for "easy". The Klorfasil dispensing device doses 129mg of granulated dichloroisocyanurate with an accuracy of 5 mg (one standard deviation) per dose. This dose of granulated disinfectant is placed into 5 gallons (19 liters) of water in the user's home and produces a free chlorine concentration of 3.75 mg/L (3.75 ppm). This level of disinfection is sufficient to treat the worst water conditions encountered by users in developing countries: turbid (cloudy) water taken from a river, lake or stream.

The Klorfasil dispenser weighs 88 grams when full and holds 70 grams of granulated chlorine disinfectant. As such, a single bottle of Klorfasil contains enough disinfectant to dose 540 five gallon buckets (2,700 gallons total) of turbid water. Because it is generally accepted that a single five gallon bucket of water is sufficient to meet the drinking water needs of a family of five for one day, a single bottle of Klorfasil is theoretically sufficient to purify drinking water for a family of 5 for 1.5 years.

The selling price of a bottle of Klorfasil is $2.50 US. This means that a five person household in a developing country can obtain clean drinking water for an ongoing cost of $1.67 per year. It is believed that this cost structure will allow for the development of a program that is scalable, economically viable and sustainable.

New users entering the program are asked to pay a fee of 100 Haitian gourdes (about $2.53 US). In exchange, they are provided with a new 5 gallon plastic bucket fitted with a tap and a lid, a 1.5 year supply of Klorfasil disinfectant, a small sign identifying their household as a Klorfasil user, and a promotional calendar. The actual cost to provide these materials to new users is approximately $8.50 US, so the subsidized portion of bringing a new user into the system is approximately $6 US.

Once users enter the program, they are visited every three to four months by a Klorfasil technician who tests the water in the home. This one-on-one interaction and reinforces the importance of pure water for the family, especially for children under the age of five. The technician also monitors usage of the Klorfasil product and encourages mothers to use treated water for purposes other than drinking such as hand washing, brushing teeth, cooking, washing vegetables, etc.

Status of Programs:

At December 31, 2009 there were 3,000 Klorfasil system serving approximately 15,000 people in the city of Hinche, Haiti.  As of February 15, 2010 the Klorfasil program has funding to increase this distribution to 10,000 units serving approximately 50,000 people by end of the year in the following cities in the Central Plateau:

Hinche:

A pilot program was launched in October of 2007 in Hinche, Haiti and the first large scale delivery of systems began in March of 2008.  As of December 31, 2009 the program has distributed 3,000 purifiers serving approximately 15,000 users in the city of Hinche.  It is anticipated that 1,500 additional units will be distributed by the end of 2010.

Bassin Zim:

A Klorfasil program sponsored by the Catholic church of St. Brendan in Cumming, Georgia was begun in Bassin Zim (approximately 5 miles North of Hinche) in the summer of 2009.  The program has distributed approximately 300 purifiers as of January 31, 2010 and expects to have 2,000 purifiers in the field by the end of 2010.

Thomassique:

A Klorfasil program is being launched in early 2010 in Thomassique.  Funding is being jointly provided by Gerard Foundation and the Catholic Church of St. Lawrence of Lawrenceville, Georgia.  The program expects to place 3,500 units serving approximately 17,500 people by end of 2010.  The project will be managed by Global Health Fellows at the St. Joseph's Clinic in Thomassique, Haiti.

Cerca Carvajal and Maissade:

Inquiries have been received and funding is being sought for Klorfasil program in these towns.  Persons or organizations interested in helping to coordinate or fund programs in these cities should contact the Program Director listed below.

Program Testing

Data on water testing and product usage is being collected on an ongoing basis to document the efficacy of the program.  Program technicians in Hinche report greater than 90%+ positive results for active chlorine in program participant households.

How to Learn More

For more information contact Klorfasil Program Director:

Jon Steele

Phone: 770-475-8199

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