SAFE WATERSolutions

Operation Blessing International is one of the top rated charities in America, providing humanitarian aid programs

for safe water, disaster, medical and hunger in 23 countries around the world. OBI’s multifold approach to providing safe water solutions worldwide includes chlorination and disinfection systems, water filters, community water systems, deep water wells and catchment systems.

For over 10 years, OBI has been installing water wells globally, and in a typical year, provides safe water to nearly half a million people through more than 1,300 wells. Yet as aquifers and surface water become increasingly contaminated, OBI is significantly expanding efforts to find new and innovative ways to disinfect and make water safe.

Operation Blessing International is one of the top rated charities in America, providing humanitarian aid programs

for safe water, disaster, medical and hunger in 23 countries around the world. OBI’s multifold approach to providing safe water solutions worldwide includes chlorination and disinfection systems, water filters, community water systems, deep water wells and catchment systems.

For over 10 years, OBI has been installing water wells globally, and in a typical year, provides safe water to nearly half a million people through more than 1,300 wells. Yet as aquifers and surface water become increasingly contaminated, OBI is significantly expanding efforts to find new and innovative ways to disinfect and make water safe.

Pictured above is a SAN6 chlorine generator that can produce enough

food-grade chlorine (sodium hypochlorite)

to disinfect over 300,000 gallons of water each day.

In many rural communities throughout Latin America, water sources may be available but they are not safe to drink from and often difficult to access. OBI constructs concrete catchment systems—or reservoir tanks—to collect source water, applies purification techniques, and then constructs a network of PVC pipes to plumb the water directly into village homes, giving residents safe access to clean water.

Rural Community Water Systems

Deep Solar-Powered Water Wells

In places like Kenya where the sun is abundant and droughts frequent, OBI drilled a 450-ft deep water well. The system includes a solar-powered submersible pump and an elevated water storage tank that not only provides safe drinking water to a community of 3,000 but also drip irrigation for a community farm, allowing villagers to grow drought-resistant crops year round.

SAFE WATERSolutions:

Operation Blessing International’sMultifold Approach to Safe Water

Across India, Nigeria and other countries, the solution for safe water can be achieved through hand pump water wells. India has 97 million people without access to improved sources of safe water, leading to sickness and even death. OBI drills an average of 50 wells per month in India alone while also treating some 10,000 patients monthly for illnesses that include parasites and other waterborne diseases.

Catchment SystemsCatchment Systems

Conventional Hand Pump Water Wells

In regions where water wells are not an option, catchment systems provide families with a means to collect water that can then by treated and purified for drinking. In Haiti, for example, OBI constructed a school/community center with a roof that funnels rainwater directly into a catchment system. In disasters or other cases where water sources are unavailable, OBI supplies safe water via trucks.

In response to Super Typhoon Haiyan that devastated the Philippines, OBI partnered with Japanese corporation, Toray, to desalinate saltwater and provide disaster victims with much-needed drinking water. As the demand on freshwater sources continues to increase, OBI is committed to providing ongoing solutions for desalinating seawater.

In Africa, Haiti and throughout Latin America, OBI is utilizing Sanilec-6 devices developed by our partner Severn Trent to manufacture chlorine. One unit currently services the largest hospital in Juba, South Sudan. Another larger system installed by OBI at Mirebalais Hospital in Haiti processes over 1 million gallons a week. During disasters, an effective and portable water disinfection system is the Water Missions International (WMI) units that OBI has deployed in as many as 20 countries, with each unit capable of treating 600 gallons of water an hour.

Chlorine Manufacturing and Disinfection Systems

Desalination

In developing countries, women and children carry water an average of 3 1/2 miles a day, often painfully balancing the heavy buckets on their heads. In partnership with GREIF, OBI has already distributed PackH20 water backpacks in seven countries to communities that don’t have convenient access to a water source. The packs safely position the water weight on the wearer’s back, not only easing the burden of carrying water, but also providing a sanitary alternative to carrying the water in toxic-laden plastic jugs and other containers used by villagers.

In partnership with Aqua Research, OBI is planning to utilize the H2gO Purifier, a handheld purification tool that is low cost, easy to use, and able to generate disinfectant within minutes to treat up to 20 liters of water at a time. The purifier converts common salt into a powerful sterilizing solution and has no maintenance cost or resupply logistics.

H2gO Purifier

Pack H 02

Operation Blessing International977 Centerville Turnpike • Virginia Beach, Virginia 23463

safewater@operationblessing.org • (757) 226-3401operationblessing.org

In addition to the family filter system, this manual filter system is also in development with Aqua Research for use in disaster settings. The manual foot pump can easily be operated by an adolescent or adult, resulting in safe water in one pass through the ultrafilter. The resulting clean water can be dispensed into any type of storage container. Performance of the system will meet U.S. EPA and World Health Organization microbial standards for drinking water.

H OB Survivor: Manual Filter System

Suction Strainer can be placed in any non-salt water source: lake, river, stream, puddle, well, etc.

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H OB Oasis: Family Filter SystemHand operated air pump to pressurize the container

Disinfectantstorage

Chlorine  purifier  storage  

container  

Filter  outlet  

Hand  operated  air  

pump  to  pressurize  

the  container  

OBI is working with Aqua Research to

develop a low cost, ultrafilter-based, water treatment storage and container system that can be used in low income households and disaster relief settings.

The 20 liter, plastic container will incorporate the ultrafilter (removes all

classes of microorganisms, including viruses, bacteria, and protozoa) and a small hand-operated manual air pump that provides the low pressure needed to push the raw water (river, lake, stream, well, etc.) through the filter.

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Ultra filter to remove all microorganisms.Mounted horizontallyto keep wet during storage.