Mission Statement: To provide clean water for people and wildlife and to provide education on human impacts to water resources. Nepal Drinking Water Project: One Drop at a Time: Sharing and Gifting Clean Drinking Water Goals: • To install access to free and clean water for people in need • To provide water filtration systems that are beautiful and culturally exceptable • To teach people watershed concepts and that human ecology is an integral part of the larger ecosystem for all life What? • We are providing Sawyer water filters that removes any particles larger than 0.02 microns in size. (This filter size removes harmful bacteria and most viruses.* See Sawyer website for more information.) • We are providing housing units for the water filtration systems that are culturally exceptable and celebrated by the community. • We are providing some educational materials regarding watershed concepts and stewardship. • We are providing couriers to install the filter system and housing units to the community. • We are providing training on filter maintenance and ongoing support for the system. • We are coordinating with communities to ensure that the filter systems will be kept in a safe and acceptable place, and the water will be freely acceptable for people in need. Why? • Access to free and clean water is a human right • Clean water needs to be provided for all living beings, including wildlife • Water should be beautiful and celebrated • To encourage people to connect and teach watershed concepts • Our staff team of ecologists has conducted rescue and relocations for an endangered frog along the Carmel river system in California that goes subsurface. We see the direct impact of water use for humans and how it affects wildlife. Although people in California are intellectually connected to the idea that their tapwater comes from river systems, they are not always viscerally connected to what this means towards wildlife. Therefore we have a passion to help educate people regarding their own consumption and how it affects the wildlife in their backyard. Vice versa, if humans are good stewards to the aquatic environments, they are also being good stewards to wildlife. Who? YOU!! Bring a filter with you when you travel. It’s quick, easy, and fun! See the project example below. Nepal Drinking Water Project: One Drop at a Time: Sharing and Gifting Clean Drinking Water (Read below or click here to download PDF) For over 20 years, Dawn Reis has been working in the clear, beautiful, freshwater ecosystems of California, which support our wildlife and give us our water. Constant immersion in the world of water inspired her to consider the basics of a clean supply in other parts of the world. During her travels through Nepal, she noticed the simple act of opening a faucet to take a drink was often an unsafe option, complicated by the presence of pollutants and water-borne pathogens. Water is not guaranteed to be safe for drinking in Nepal – or in many regions of Southeast Asia. Arriving home in California, she promptly embarked on a small-scale Pilot Project. The vision was simple: purchase hardy, long-lasting filters and install them for safe drinking water in various public places across Nepal’s capital city, Kathmandu – with the idea of expanding the concept to educate the public about the importance of clean freshwater to wildlife. Bilochan’s wife Kirti with young friend poised to enjoy a drink The Pilot Project was accomplished with the assistance of Ecological Studies Staff and friends, including Monterey businessman Bailochan Mahajan, and his family members who are based in Kathmandu. Ecological Studies Staff worked to find the most practical options for an easy-to-install water filter such as the sawyer point zero-two-purifier, furnished with a filter 0.02 microns in size, which lasts for 1 million liters of water (before the filter needs to be replaced). That’s over 6 years of clean, drinkable water for 200 people from a single water filter (with each person drinking two liters per day)! Dawn bought 5 to embark on the Project. Beyond cleaning out pollutants, the system is efficient at filtering out bacteria (salmonella, cholera), protozoa (giardia, cryptosporidium) and even viruses (Hepatitis A, Hepatitis E, Poliovirus). Bailochan Mahajan hand-couriered the filters to Nepal. The Mahajan family then set up the filters at five locations. Ideal public places to embark on the Pilot Project include schools, temple grounds, and safe local neighborhoods frequented by a multitude of children and adults. These are also among the best places to follow up with an educational program about water cycles and personal health. Coordinating with his family members, the filters were installed in the following places: • Baag Bhairab Temple, Kirtipure • New Zenith English Model Higher Secondary School, Kathmadu • Multiple-Family Home in Leeg Marg, Kathmadu • Multiple-Family Home in Guin Tole, Lalitpure. • Multiple-Family Home in Kuleswor, Kathmadu Add a New Dimension To Your Travels Are you traveling to a developing country? Bring a safe, clean water filter with you to gift to a community, you can even use it while you are there. Your experience can be streamlined, safe, and satisfying by donating the filter to someone with whom you made a personal connection with. Send us a photograph and the name of the location where you installed the filter, and we’ll be happy to create an online post with news of your success! You can also contact wavesforwater for more examples of places where the filters have been installed. Return to top of page