5) Description of health product/service offering: In 2004-2005 our NGO, Niparaja AC, conducted a study of the water quality in 500 potable water wells of the state of Baja California Sur (BCS), Mexico. We determined that 42% of the wells have fecal contamination during the dry season, and 100% during the rainy season. The fecal contamination propagates waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, hepatitis and cholera, among others. This contributes to infant mortality in Mexico reaching four times the rate in the U.S .

Based on the 2000 national census, there are 42,607 persons affected by unsafe water in 2,690 rural communities of BCS.

Niparaja AC, in partnership with the University of California at Berkeley and the La Paz Technological Institute (capital town of BCS), has developped a robust and affordable water disinfection system, called UV Bucket, to be distributed to all rural households in BCS through rural schools and rural stores.

The project is expected to dramatically reduce the occurrence of waterborne diseases among rural populations of BCS by providing water disinfection to all rural households, over 40,000 persons. Based on the experience gained in BCS, the project could then be replicated in all other states of Mexico.

6) Description of innovation: To our knowledge no previous project has achieved providing disinfected water to the total rural population of a state, as proposed in this project.

The UV Bucket is a new device that provides affordable and efficient water disinfection to rural households. The UV Bucket consists of two 15-liter buckets inserted into one another. The upper reservoir is filled by the user with well water. A manually-operated valve lets the water flow to the bottom chamber, to be disinfected by a germicidal (ultraviolet) lamp placed above the water. Every household in BCS has a 50W government-supplied solar panel providing the 12V current for the UV lamp (18W).

The key advantages of the UV Bucket are: - High efficiency : log 7.6 reduction for bacteria (99.999994%) and log 4.7 reduction for viruses (99.993%) - For its efficiency, lowest cost on the market ($26) - Rapid disinfection (30s) - High capacity (3L/min) - Light and easy to transport - Fabricated locally - Easily maintained with replacement parts in rural stores.

The partnership with the Rural School Federation is a pioneering approach to, along with the technology, provide education on clean water and health-related issues to rural communities. Each school will receive for free a UV Bucket and poster “Clean water for your community”.

To provide access to necessary replacement parts (lamp, ballast, valves, switch) to the rural villagers, Niparaja has arranged for the rural store network (DICONSA), supported by the Ministry of Social Affairs, to sell them along with the UV Buckets in all rural communities, over the long-term.

This initiative will contribute to convincing governments that they can affordably provide clean water to their entire rural population.

7) Operational model: Our NGO Niparaja will coordinate the project and conduct the distribution campaign of the UV Buckets in all rural communities of BCS. Our partners for the distribution campaign are: - CONAFE, the Mexican Rural School Federation, who will organize the demonstration and educational forum at the rural schools for each distribution event. - DICONSA, the Mexican Rural Store Network, who will sell the UV Buckets and replacement parts in all rural stores.

We plan on 320 distribution and educational events in two years, with an estimated 125 villagers per event, to be able to reach the total rural population of BCS, over 40,000 persons.

The logistics of the distribution campaign is the following. In each of the five municipalities of BCS, we organized, in March 2006, a preparatory meeting with the rural community mayors and the representatives of the municipality. The project was presented to the rural mayors for them to start informing their community members. The following meeting in each municipality will take place in May 2006 to program, with every mayor, the date of the educational and distribution event in all rural communities of BCS.

Niparaja’s project's team, project coordinator and assistant, will travel to each rural community one day in advance to prepare the event at the rural school with the help of the schoolteacher. Rural doctors from nearby health clinics will also be invited at each educational and distribution event. The project's team will implement the distribution campaign within the next two years, with the goal of providing the UV Buckets to a minimum of 75% of the rural population. The sale of the UV buckets will continue with the Rural Store Network after Year Two.

8) Human resources: Florence Cassassuce, Project Coordinator: Environmental Engineer, M.S. from University of California, Berkeley, 2004. Ms. Cassassuce joined Niparaja in 2004 and initiated their water program. She will coordinate the project and conduct the distribution campaign.

Itzcoatl Bareño, Project Assistant: Mr. Bareño was a regional coordinator for the Rural School Federation (CONAFE) before joining our project team in 2005. Having worked closely with rural communities in BCS for the last ten years, he has extensive knowledge of the social and cultural environment in which the project will take place. He will conduct the distribution campaign with the project's coordinator.

Eva Hamilton, Director of Educational Programs at CONAFE: Possessing a M.A. in Educational Psychology, Ms. Hamilton brings 20 years of experience on educational programs in the rural communities of BCS. She will organize the educational forums to complement the UV Bucket distribution events in all rural schools of BCS.

Slavomir Hermanowicz, Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley: Dr. Hermanowicz is a scientific advisor on the UV Bucket's design and field performance.

9) Key operational partnerships: To fabricate the UV Buckets locally, Niparaja AC created in 2005 the micro-company TECA ("Tecnologias y Proyectos Ambientales").

TECA has set up a workshop in La Paz and, in June 2006, will hire three recent graduates from the Technological Institute to manufacture the 8000 UV Buckets for BCS.

Our main partner on the project, CONAFE, is one of the most trusted government institutions in Mexico since their rural teachers work closely with the communities. By organizing the distribution campaign with CONAFE, Niparaja benefits from the trust CONAFE has gained in the communities over the last 30 years. Moreover, the school staff will provide long-term monitoring of the UV Bucket Project, reporting villagers’ satisfaction to Niparaja. CONAFE also represents an institutional partner able to transfer the project to other states in Mexico through an already-established network of rural schools.

Our second partner on this project, DICONSA, will ensure continued sale of UV Buckets and replacement parts through their network of rural stores in the communities of BCS, and potentially other states of Mexico as project expands.

10) Financial Sustainability

          • Fees charged to clients?: Yes

          • How do you assure affordability?: The UV Bucket will be sold at 300 pesos ($30).

The state government has agreed to finance 100 pesos per UV bucket for all rural families of BCS. The five municipal governments of BCS also agreed to finance 100 pesos per UV Bucket.

Therefore the rural households will be able to acquire the UV bucket for 100 pesos. Interviews of rural community members revealed that the minimum monthly income is 600 pesos. Villagers themselves estimated the price of the UV bucket between 300-500 pesos and suggested feasible payments of 100 pesos. We are therefore confident that the rural population will be able to acquire the UV bucket. The sale of the UV Bucket, even at a modest price, is key to create ownership of the device.

          • Earned incomes as a percentage of operating costs: 65

          • Other funding sources: The project has received $37,600 from Rotary Club of Menlo Park/Woodside, CA in collaboration with La Paz Rotary Club, $25,000 from International Community Foundation, $17,000 from the Mexican Ministry of Social Affairs, and is expecting the answer from the World Bank Development Marketplace Award ($170,000).

The state and municipal governments of BCS will finance 100 pesos each per UV Bucket for the entire rural population of the state.

The project is currently not profitable but is expected to become self-sustainable after the two initial years of implementation in Baja California Sur.

          • Strategy for long-term sustainability: The scaling-up of project to all of Mexico after initial two years in BCS is designed to bring financially sustainability.

To start a UV Bucket project in a new state, the required seed money could be financed from the project’s revenues in a previous state, from foundations or from the Mexican Government. The production of UV Buckets for all of Mexico would help bring material costs down, potentially to 15$. The project would be become self-supported after sale of first 1,000 UV Buckets.

11) Current and Future Impact

          • Total number of clients: 120

          • Clients in the past year: 120

          • Percentage of low-income clients: 100

          • Impact: In partnership with UC Berkeley, the first 24 UV water disinfection systems were installed in two communities of BCS, La Fortuna and Las Animas. The Señora Guadalupe interviewed two weeks after the installation revealed that her children had not had diarrhea since they use the disinfected water. Señora Guadalupe also said that she had not had stomach pain herself.

More generally, during village's meetings, the villagers revealed that because of the frequent visits made to their community during the project, they trusted that our team was dedicated in helping them. The trust gained among villagers is crucial for initiating a long-term dialogue on this and future technologies for their communities.

          • Overall "market": The UV Bucket could potentially be installed in all 5 million rural households of Mexico within the next ten years.

After Mexico, the UV Bucket could be promoted in all developing countries. It is estimated that one billion people in low and middle-income countries lack access to safe water.

12) Scaling up strategy

          • Stage of the initiative: Start Up stage.

          • Expansion plan: After initial two years in BCS, the project’s replication will start in other states of Mexico with the following model: - Hire a project coordinator for the state - Establish a UV Bucket assembling workshop - Organize distribution campaign with Rural School Federation - Hire personnel for statewide distribution - Provide UV Buckets and parts to DICONSA for ongoing distribution in rural stores

Internationally, Niparaja will work with Rotary International to start other UV Bucket Projects. A project funded by RI will be undertaken in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. In June 2006, our team will travel to the area to train World Neighbors (NGO) to produce 300 UV Buckets for a refugee camp.

Niparaja will provide training to the following NGOs worldwide: Clean Water for Haiti, Pure Water for the World (Honduras), Asociacion de Fabricantes de Filtros (Dominican Republic), Dhan Foundation (India), SCOPE Pakistan, ENPHO (Nepal), ACTS (Uganda). The network of NGOs trained on UV Bucket will be expanded year after year.

Finally, the UV Bucket Project will be presented to the Gates Foundation, Public Health Foundation, Doctors Without Frontiers, Red Cross and World Health Organization.

13) Policy change: The required policy change would simply require the Mexican Government to launch a national health campaign with a clear objective of providing household disinfection devices (our UV Bucket or others) to all rural households of Mexico. The logistics would then be handled at the state level by the different partners for the proposed campaign: Rural doctors from Ministry of Public Health, Rural stores by the Ministry of Social Affaires, Rural Schools, and local NGOs.

14) Origin of the initiative: The initiative started with a group of students from Engineers-without-Frontiers (EWF) Berkeley who conducted a study of the water quality in 30 rural communities during the summer of 2004. After completion of the EWF study, having recently graduated with a Master of Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley, Florence Cassassuce decided to join the NGO Niparaja to extend the water quality study to 500 wells of BCS, more than 90% of the state’s wells. This study allowed her to gain essential knowledge on technical issues, water chemistry and microbiology, as well as social issues, interviewing villagers on the water situation in every visited household. The findings of the study motivated Florence Cassassuce to commit herself to developing appropriate technologies for solving the water contamination problems affecting these rural areas.

Contact Information:
Florence  Cassassuce
Project Coordinator
Sociedad de Historia Natural Niparaja AC
(NGO)
Revolución 430 entre Guerrero y Colegio Militar, Colonia El Esterito 23020, La Paz, BCS, MEXICO
Mexico
Tel: +52 612 122 1171
Fax: +52 612 122 1298
Email: cassassuce@hotmail.com
Website: www.niparaja.org