A great opportunity to partner on international low-cost biosand water filter projects has come up that I wanted to bring to your attention. For some of you Host Clubs they would be delivered to a port in your own country by the US Navy without incurring any international transport costs.

For International Sponsor clubs this is a quick and inexpensive international project. Please review the attachments. I am sorry for the very short notice but this year’s humanitarian assistance program schedule has been severely influenced by Haiti and Chile earthquake response needs, and we have been notified of the itineraries by our military partners just this past week.

As many of you may know, my team and I have been working with the US and other militaries helping to coordinate local Rotarian humanitarian and disaster relief activities with military HA/DR efforts. The water filters that the “Thirsting to Serve” multi Rotary district project provided to the USNS Comfort and to several other missions last year were extremely well received and with our support can become an integral part of al future project planning by our military partners. This will all but eliminate Rotarian transportation costs for water projects.

Contacts with all of the host counties to be served by the HA deployments scheduled for this year have specifically stated that they really want to receive filters. In addition, the site selection teams visiting these countries to determine medical and engineering services needs and sites all have identified places where these biosand filters could be used to good effect to reduce waterborne illnesses.

The manufacturer of these filters, in partnership with the Rotarian “Thirsting to Serve” program, already has shipped enough filters to the Navy warehouse to provide at least one pallet of 15 filters to each country to be visited. This was done by their non profit arm in good faith prior to payment so that they would be on hand when funding became available to immediately assist with HA and DR missions.

We now have the opportunity for Rotary clubs and/or Districts to sponsor these filters and have them delivered directly to partnering Rotary clubs in the identified host countries. However, the timing is very tight. We need to have commitments to pay the cost of $1,000 (US) per pallet of fifteen (15) filters from clubs, RAG's or Districts.

Our challenge is that we need the first sixteen commitments within a week for the first 10 countries and soon after for most of the rest of the deployments. This is because the sailing date for the Navy vessels being deployed is already set and can not be adjusted. We do not have to have payment made: just a good faith commitment to fund the pallets is needed now and they will be loaded for delivery.

Our team will help arrange for location of appropriate partner clubs in the host countries. As well, we are happy to work with you if you have existing Rotarian partnerships in these countries. Even the smallest clubs can participate:
Just two filters would be adequate to provide safe clean water for up to a hundred students in a school, and would cost two partnering international and in-country host clubs a total of only $150!

These filters are well designed and have been field tested. See attachments HydrAid_filter and Hyraid3. Their design life is 10+ years. They require no electricity, are simple to use, and require little or no maintenance. The Rotarians in the host country will be given training in their installation and maintenance.

All we need to make this happen are firm commitments from clubs, districts, or Rotary foundations to the funding of one or more of these filters. The space available is not unlimited but if we had additional sponsoring Rotary groups beyond the 16 requested we will provide additional pallets to other countries in need. Finally, we can fund additional pallets for storage at no cost to Rotary clubs by the Navy until needed to respond to disasters. All filters would be designated to be delivered to Rotary clubs in the countries served.

The list of the countries to be served is shown below. See also the attachment Filter Deployments 2010. [insert link here]

PACIFIC
a. Vietnam
b. Cambodia
c. Indonesia
d. Timor Leste
e. Papua New Guinea

SOUTH PACIFIC
a. Palau

CARIBBEAN AND SOUTH AMERICA
a. Haiti
b. Dominican Republic (DR)
c. Panama
d. Nicaragua
e. El Salvador
f. Guatemala
g. Barbados
h. Trinidad and Tobago (T&T)
i. Suriname
j. Guyana
k. Jamaica

also:
i. Colombia
j. Costa Rica
k. Nicaragua

SOUTH AMERICA
a. Chile
b. Peru

EUROPE (EASTERN) Engagements – TBD
a. Lithuania

For additional details on ports of call see attachment Filter Deployments 2010.

To sponsor one or more pallets please contact either:
Dr. Leigh A. Readdy
Chief Liaison, Rotarian Military Liaison Group
PP RC of Northshore D5030
District Coordinator 5030, Disaster Relief Rotarian Action Group
Phone: 425 823 4851
Cell: 425 417 6412
Email: readdyla@aol.com

Or:

Robert G. Ketron PDG
Rotary District 7620
Washington DC, Baltimore & Central Maryland 1992 - 1993
Senior Advisor, Rotarian Military Liaison Group
Phone: 410 464 2788
Cell: 410 952 8933