CAFOMI during UWEWK 2019

The Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) in collaboration with key partners successfully held the first ever UWEWK (Uganda Water and Environment Week) in March 2018. Based on the success of the first UWEWK, the MWE held the second UWEWK at the Water Resource Institute in Entebbe from Monday 18 – Friday 22, March 2019. The event concluded with the annual commemoration of three important International Environmental Days: World Forest Day (March 21st), World Water Day (March 22nd) and World Meteorological Day (March 23rd). A wide range of water, sanitation and environment stakeholders attended the event, including policy makers, technocrats, academicians, public and private sector institutions, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations and consumers. Partner organizations of the Humanitarian actors operating in the Refugee operations in Uganda were required to choose a topic out of the sub themes, which included Water-food-energy-ecosystem nexus, Water, environment and Society, Green growth, Blue economy and SDGs, and Financing Sustainable Development. As CAFOMI (Care and Assistance For Forced Migrants), a humanitarian organization that espouses the universality and alienability of human rights. WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) sector being among our organization’s various sectors, We chose to showcase an activity under the sub theme of; “Water, environment and Society” and we were expected to showcase a simple filtration technique using the sawyers’ filter on how to improve the quality of drinking water. Sunday James Mundrugo, the WASH Assistant working with CAFOMI in Nyakabande Transit centre in Kisoro, explained the Sawyers’ filter technology and how it operates. According to Mundrugo, Raw water is fed into the upper jerry cans and it flows through the filter at a rate of a litre per minute. The water that passes through the filter is tapped in the lower jerry cans and it’s ready for consumption. In case of clogging the filter is cleaned through back washing using a syringe. The technology is derived from kidney dialysis technique. This technology has improved both the filtration rates of water and longevity of the filter, the team was dedicated to engineering something even more precise and rugged. To make it a superior solution, the fiber composition had to deliver exactly 0.1 & 0.02 micron filtration 100% of the time to ensure no bacteria would get through. Moreover, the membranes had to be sturdy enough to withstand backwashing which allows the filter to be cleaning and reused. The proprietary water filters are comprised of tiny “U” shaped micro-tubes that allow water to enter into their core through minuscule micro-pores. Contaminates get trapped in the tubes while the decontaminated water passes freely through. The high number of those tiny tubes and their significant surface area allow the filter to have one of the fastest flow rates available in the world. This high flow rate makes filters easily utilized as point-of-use solutions, which has eliminated the need to store water – one of the leading causes of contaminated water throughout the world. Each Sawyer filter is certified for absolute microns; that means there is no pore size larger than 0.1 or 0.02 micron in size. This makes it impossible for harmful bacteria, protozoa, or cysts like E. coli, Giardia, Vibrio cholerae and Salmonella typhi (which cause Cholera and Typhoid) to pass through the Sawyer Point ONE biological filter. At 7 log (99.99999%) the filter attains the highest level of filtration available today. If viruses are an issue, we offer the Point Zero TWO Purifier (0.02 micron absolute pores). This is the first and thus far only portable purification device to physically remove viruses. And it does it at a >5.5 log (99.9997%) rate, exceeding EPA and NSF recommendations. The week-long UWEWK 2019 exhibition that was running with an overall goal of improving understanding of the centrality of water and environment resources in attainment of SDGs by 2030. This left a positive impact on human welfare as numerous projects were showcased including our Sawyers’ Filter which aimed at teaching how to improve the quality of drinking water by use of a cost friendly water treatment technique. We acknowledge the tireless effort of our M&E/ PROGRAMME team (Morris Ayikanying and Yesero Olowo), Our WASH team & advisors (James Mundrugo and Isah Nabide) towards preparations for the Uganda Water and Environment Week 2019 , where CAFOMI team performed an incredible role in showcasing and teaching people how to improve the quality of drinking water.