Eco Concern Pvt. Ltd.

• Client: Sahasa Foundation
• Location: Katari, Sindhuli, Hetauda
• Year: April 2021-June 2021

Background

The scarcity of safe drinking water has been a major global concern since decades especially in third world countries such as India, Nepal, Bhutan. According to a survey conducted by the World Health Organisation it has been estimated that nearly 5 million people in Nepal lack access to safe drinking water while globally 1.1 billion lack access to improved water supplies. In the pursuit of solutions to availing the access to safe drinking water to those in need, point-of-use household treatment of water has emerged as a solution to centralized water supply systems. Since ceramic water filters can be manufactured and produced locally using materials which are readily available ceramic water filters is considered as an attractive technology for point-of-use treatment. Household ceramic water filters offer an affordable and effective means of treating water to a standard which is fit for drinking. (W.Dies, 2003)

Colloidal Silver (CS) filter is an appropriate method for water purification at household level at lower cost. It is one type of ceramic water filters and is effectively used for producing water free from bacteria at an affordable cost. (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 2015)

Sahas Foundation had assigned EcoConcern Pvt. Ltd as technical role for quality monitoring and for distribution of 4000 CS candle filters. The specific role of EcoConcern included quality monitoring of CS candles (through flow rate measurement and microbial sampling), delivery of the product to the assigned locations (Udayapur, Hetauda and Sindhuli) and conduction of orientation program to the staff members regarding operation of the candle filter.

Objectives

The overall objective of the study is to perform quality monitoring of the Colloidal Silver (CS) candles. The specific objectives are:

• To check the flow rate of the candles.
• To check for efficiency of candles in removal of bacteria in filtrate samples

Project Accomplishments

Upon completion of the assignment, 4000 Cs-candles was delivered to three locations-Katari, Sindhuli and Hetauda after quality assessment and bacterial sampling for each batch. Orientation was given to the Sahas members on the operation of the Swachchya filter set in Katari.

• Katari:   1500
• Sindhuli:  1250       
• Hetauda:  1250

Photograph 1: Water sampling of CS candles                               Photograph 2: Handed over to Madan Shrestha at Sindhuli (Total number of candles: 1250)

Photograph 3: Handed over to Abhishek BK at Katari                     Photograph 4: Orientation to Sahas members at Katari (Total number of candles: 1500)