Clean Water Saves Lives

Global Sustainable Partnerships, Inc. (GSP) partnered with the District Education Officers in the Arumeru District in Tanzania (October of 2011) and we trained the Head Masters, Head Mistresses, teachers and students to construct and maintain “their” Hydraid biosand filters (please see video).  We placed 30 filters in 10 schools, and now over 8,000 students and their teachers have access to clean and safe drinking water. We are proud to annouce that we will be installing 150 filters in 30 schools in July, impacting over 2,400 students and their teachers.  We also partnered with the U.S. Navy through Project Handclasp and they are shipping the filters to arrive in Tanzania in July.  The HydrAid® BioSand Filter (BSF) represents the culmination of nearly two decades of development and research conducted around the world by leading experts and is now recognized by the World Health Organization, (WHO) UNICEF and USAID.

The lack of clean drinking water in the villages where the majority of families do not boil or filter their water before drinking, creates a tremendous burden of diarrheal diseases and debilitating , life-threatening illnesses – especially for the children.  Additionally, about 80% of Tanzanians live in rural communities and women and children travel up to 20 miles round trip to haul buckets of the same river water that is used to wash clothes and water their livestock.  Although these rivers are vital to the existence of their communities, they are also a source of disease and sickness.