Safe Water Network eNewsletter

Update from Kurt

We were very pleased with the response to our first Real Solutions eNewsletter last December, and are excited to be sending our next edition to you today. As always, we welcome your feedback.

Since our last eNewsletter we’ve launched a 3-year joint initiative with Merck & Co. to improve water access to villages in India. Announced on World Water Day, the objective is to install a dozen new water purification systems in India to help reduce the impact of water-borne disease for the roughly 50,000 people living in those villages. Merck will bring its expertise in public health to help us better evaluate outcomes and improve how we increase usage of safe water and encourage healthy hygiene behaviors. Merck employees are already lending their capabilities to our work, which will be broadly shared with the sector. Read More

Driving Scale

Taking a Fresh Look at an Old Approach: Modular Slow Sand Filtration in Ghana

Slow sand filtration has been around for ages, but despite its effectiveness and minimal operating cost, its high up-front costs, complex and lengthy construction process and lack of flexibility for future expansion, hampered its widespread use. As a treatment solution, it is used today primarily for municipal supply, rather than for community kiosks and other off-grid, decentralized water systems. But recent innovations in slow sand filtration mean that low-cost, modular systems can be shipped in containers and set up in a matter of days.

Safe Water Network will install these modular slow sand filtration systems in two communities within the southern Lake Volta region. Based on our experience providing safe water to communities in Ghana, we believe that we can now design and implement reliable and profitable systems in villages that would otherwise be unable to manage the cost of providing safe water. Because of Slow Sand’s simplicity and lower costs, there is great potential to broadly replicate this approach.

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Partnerships for Sustainability

Merck and Safe Water Network Launch Initiative to Improve Water Access and Help Reduce the Impact of Water-Borne Disease in India
	Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, and Safe Water Network, announced on March 22nd, World Water Day, the launch of a three-year, $1.5M initiative to increase access to safe water and reduce the impact of water-borne disease among impoverished communities in Andhra Pradesh, India. This includes the launch of 12 Safe Water Stations and the development of a demand generation program.

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NABARD and Safe Water Network to Pilot Sustainable, Community-based Safe Water Station in Andhra Pradesh, India
	Safe Water Network is pleased to announce the site in Andhra Pradesh with financial support from National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD), India’s leading apex bank for rural credit and development. The site, supported through NABARD’s “Rural Innovation Fund“, will test two key aspects of the Safe Water Network approach to locally owned and managed water systems: the Remote Monitoring System and the development of a financial product through Watershed Development Committees. The initiative will also include an impact study to determine the benefits of providing safe water to a village in need.

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Real World Impact

Water Tower Opens in Kibera, Kenya Safe Water Network Provides Technical Assistance to Local NGO

Drawing from our field initiatives in India and Ghana, Safe Water Network has developed a capability to design, spec, construct and operate a variety of decentralized water systems. We have now made this service available to organizations, and recently assisted with the installation of a 100,000 liter water tower for the Kibera School for Girls.

Located in Kibera, Kenya, one of Africa’s largest slums, this tuition free school for girls was founded in 2009 by the NGO, Shining Hope. Safe Water Network designed and assisted with installation of a safe water tower that opened successfully and on schedule in January of this year. The launch coincided with the opening of a new wing for the school.

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New @ Safe Water Network

Frederick Gluck, Former Head of McKinsey & Company Joins Safe Water Network Board
	Safe Water Network is pleased to announce Fred Gluck has joined its Board. Mr. Gluck joined McKinsey & Co. in 1967 and led the firm as its managing director from ’88 to ’94. During his six years as CEO, McKinsey doubled in size and greatly expanded its international presence, particularly in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Mr. Gluck’s pioneering contributions to the development of the discipline of corporate strategy are featured in Walter Kiechel’s recently published book The Lords of Strategy.

With more than 45 years as an executive recruiter, Mr. Roche has worked with hundreds of corporations and their boards. He has identified top executives through

out the world in almost every function and industry, placing more CEOs than any other recruiter.
Joining Heidrick & Struggles in 1964, Mr. Roche became senior vice president and Eastern manager in 1973. Named executive vice president early in 1977, he was responsible for all domestic operations.

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Safe Water Network Ghana Welcomes Joseph Ampadu-Boakye: Program Manager
Mr. Ampadu-Boakye is responsible for Safe Water Network Ghana’s market activity. In this capacity, he will lead our market analysis and development initiatives to further advance locally owned and managed water systems that can be replicated at scale. Mr. Ampadu-Boakye has ten years of experience in socio-economic research and project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

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Featured Field Initiative

Onesmerc Water Delivery Network, Kenya

When severe drought struck Kenya in 2008, people in many regions of the country found themselves unable to secure enough water to meet their needs. In Mbooni West, a district in the drought-affected Eastern Province, businessman Onesmus Muthoka watched his family’s livestock die for lack of water. He and his neighbors also struggled to get safe drinking water for their families. We discovered Mr. Muthoka’s activities as part of our Kenya market assessment study in collaboration with IFC.

Frustrated by the lack of an effective government or community response, Mr. Muthoka responded by creating a business dedicated to delivering safe water to the area.

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