Project aids Dominican Republic
Contributed photo/Nate BodenstabHOULTON — The Houlton Rotary Club met for their luncheon meeting on Oct. 17 and a highlight of the meeting was a presentation of $939 to Dawn Degenhardt and Danette Ellis for Aid For Kids. The E-Waste Day was their “brain child” and the Rotary Club took it over this year and promised to share the proceeds from the successful event.
The speaker of the day hosted by Rotarian Craig Bean was Dr. Robert Chagrasulis, who has been taking Rotary groups to the Dominican Republic for years to help work on clean water systems, hospital care, teaching hygiene with hand washing stations, and building latrines. The Houlton Rotary Club has been to the Dominican Republic twice, once in 2013 and again in 2015 and the club has been involved in the “Clean Water Project.”
In the past, the filters were Biosand and they were effective in removing parasites and bacteria. Since the earthquake in Haiti and the outbreak of cholera, the owners of the village, various sugarcane companies, have been adding chlorine to the water effectively getting rid of parasites and bacteria.
Chagrasulis encouraged Rotary International to stop funding the Biosand filter. His reason is that an engineer from the KOHLER Plumbing Company has developed a new filter that would target even smaller particles of contaminants. The new ceramic filter is being tested in India and Honduras and will be ready for installation in the Dominican soon.
The KOHLER Clarity, which is the name of the filter, works on gravity alone, needing no electricity or water infrastructure. One filter holds 2.9 gallons of dirty water that flows into a 3.1 gallon reservoir where the clean water is stored to avoid contamination. KOHLER Clarity removes over 99 percent of the bacteria and protozoa to meet the World Health Organization’s interim level water quality guidelines. The filter can handle about 10 gallons of water per day and costs less than a penny per day per person to operate.
A major grant through Rotary International that involves the local district and twenty other clubs will enable the purchase of 75,000 ceramic filters to aid the Dominican Republic residents. More information is available online at KOHLER.com. or Rotary.com.
