The filter is made of local clay and agricultural waste (grain hulls, cocoa or coffee shells, etc.).  It is fired to become, essentially, a clay flower pot without a hole in the bottom.  A solution made of granular silver is embedded into the clay in the mixing of the clay and combustible before firing the pot.  Silver is one of the best bactriostatic agents known.  Granular silver is readily available internationally and can be easily transported to remote regions. 

Water drips through the clay and emerges as clean water.  The filter sits on a five gallon plastic water storage bucket with a spigot at the bottom for dispensing.  The filter can process up to three liters pure water an hour for less than a dollar a month. 

Filters are supplied with simple cleaning instructions and have an active life of about eighteen months (depending on water quality).  After that, they can be crushed and used as filler to make bricks or disposed of as harmless landfill.


Virtually every culture has a pottery making tradition.  This Rotary program will provide detailed production and distribution instructions in local languages.  Current pottery operations that now make utilitarian vessels and bricks can easily adapt part of their production to filter making. 

Rotarians and program partners will be on-site to help build the low-tech kiln and press needed to manufacture the filters.  The press, for example, is made from a universally available sixteen ton truck jack. An ideal situation would involve sponsoring a self sustaining local business that will manufacture the initial and replacement filters.

Distribution will also have a role for Rotary.  Community organizations, under local Rotary club sponsorship, will educate households and distribute filters.

Our goal is to give all Rotary clubs the method of establishing a site anywhere in the world. They, through the leverage of the Rotary Foundation, can underwrite a micro-business giving the enterprise the cost of the capital equipment and a starter inventory, plus the training. The business can sustain itself by making and distributing the filters and containers for expansion of the filter kit market and also replacement filters in the future.