In 2004, Niparajá in collaboration with the Mexican National Water Commission conducted a study of the water quality in 500 wells of Baja California Sur. It was determined that 42% have fecal contamination during the dry season and close to 100% during the rainy season. Fecal contamination is the cause of diarrhea and other severe wateborne diseases that affect principally the children in developping countries.

With these data in mind, Niparajá decided to work on a simple water purifier for the rural population. Inspired from the work at UC Berkeley on ultraviolet light to disinfect water, Niparajá developed its own "UV Bucket", a compact, simple and extremely affordable water disinfection system for the developping world. That invention won a World Bank grant in May 2006 that currently enables us to fabricate and distribute 6000 UV Buckets for the rural communities of BCS. In 2007 Niparajá distributed the first 500 UV Buckets in poor urban neighborhoods and villages around the capital town of BCS, La Paz. In 2008, the next 5500 UV Buckets, powered by solar panels sponsored by the local government for every rural household, will be installed in remote mountainous and fishing communities throughout the state of BCS. To achieve this goal, the 5 people in Niparajá UV Bucket's team will organize community events with the help of schoolteachers, health promoters and mayors in every community.

At the end of 2008, a booklet will be published by Niparajá with the help of the key actors in this project (teachers, doctors, mayors) to compile the experience, lessons learned and recommendations for replication of this project in other Mexican states or other developping countries. We hope the experience gained in BCS will help many other NGOs, individuals and governments in establishing their own clean water project in their respective regions. There is already interest by other organizations in establishing clean water projects in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mongolia, India, Panamá and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Related Links:

• News Story on CNN: Heroes Finalists: Defending the Planet
• Friends of Niparajá Fund
• UV Project at Sociedad de Historia Natural Niparajá, A.C. (Niparajá)