In one year’s time here are just some of the highlights about what has happened with the program:

- A fully operating workshop is humming with activity and employs 10 full time people and approximately 10 subcontractors on an as-needed basis
- Over 1,000 Bio-Sand Water Filters have been manufactured to date
- Over 600 Bio-Sand Water Filters have been installed in homes and/or schools in India
- Mike and Cathy have made 26 presentations to various groups including Rotary clubs in the United States and India, Engineers Without Borders, a high school, a church, a retirement community, and an in-depth interview for a public access television show
- A Rotary matching grant has been obtained by the Rotary clubs of Kolar India and Hamden Connecticut USA for the purchase a delivery vehicle and a cement mixer (the funds have arrived and we believe the equipment has been ordered!)
- Three villages have been “adopted” by area Rotary clubs (see details about our adoption programs attached):

- Chilapanahalli - North Haven Rotary Club
- Nayakarahalli - Hamden Rotary Club
- Thippenahalli - New London Rotary Club

- The Adopt-A-Village programs have been wildly popular in India.  Villagers are telling each other about the filters and the gala dedication celebrations receive much publicity from the press.  As a result villages are contacting our program director and offering to pool their limited resources to purchase some filters if others are donated for those in their village that can not afford to purchase them.  It is a variation that we will be developing guidelines for but we are excited to know that local people realize the benefits of the water filters and want them.
- At least two organizations in Connecticut are known to be actively raising funds to try to “adopt” a village.  Several other individuals and organizations have participated in the Adopt a Family and Adopt A Filter programs or made other generous contributions.  Thank you!!
- Two people from other non-profit organizations have visited the Kolar India workshop for hands-on training so they can start similar operations of their own in other areas of India

I attended our Rotary District 7980 conference this past weekend that was held in Cape Cod Massachusetts (about a 3 hour drive from where we live).  It was a fabulous weekend and the water filter project got some incredible recognition.

I set up a display table with pictures of the workshop and the filters and had some flyers and brochures that people could take away with them.  The display was available for people to see all weekend long (Thursday through Sunday).  On Saturday morning I was given 20 minutes to speak to the group about the project and I brought a power point presentation with me so people could see pictures of India and the workshop operations.  I was incredibly moved when the group as a whole stood up and clapped after I was finished.  There were several more presentations made after mine that all dealt with projects in countries outside of the United States.  At the end of that series of presentations they gave out an award for the best International project in the district this year and the Bio-Sand Water Filter Project in Kolar won that distinction.  I was called to the podium where a youth exchange student from Bombay (who attends boarding school in Bangalore) thanked us for helping people in her country and helped to present the award.  Once again the Rotarians stood and clapped and I was moved to tears.  It was very emotional for me and an experience I will never forget.  I just wish you and Mike had been there to share that with me.

India activities:

- As of January 25^th – 33 clean water filters had been installed, 45 filters were ready for delivery, 35 filters were being painted, and 100 filters were in the curing stage.  We are awaiting updated production statistics for February.

- The Kolar workshop now has ten filter molds in use.  Ten molds have a capacity to produce 50-60 filters per week.

- A display area has been created in the Kolar Workshop including two banners (English and Kanada), demonstration filters, two sign boards: one with technical explanation of filters and second with photos of household installations and workshop operations.

- Local doctors and teachers have shown an interest in the Bio-sand water filters.  Filters have been sold to a general medical clinic, an eye hospital, and two to a renowned high school.  More orders are being taken for similar sites.

- The Managing Director and some of the crew attended a local tradeshow in India, and took orders for 50 filters.  The government has also requested 200 filters for hostels where youths live.  The crew also attended a ten day state level industry exhibition that ended on February 14^th and took orders for 75 filters.  They won an award for the best display at the exhibition.

- All workshop efforts are now being focused on washing the sand and gravel and delivering and installing the filters that have been ordered.

- There are now twelve employees at the workshop!

There has been a stream of visitors to the workshop for a whole variety of reasons.  On 1/5 Rotarian Keith Wescovich from the Rotary Club of Old Saybrook visited to explore the possibility of a future Rotary Matching Grant to provide bio-sand water filters to rural villages.  On 1/18 Rotarian Jonass Beheer from the Netherlands visited and may conduct a Rotary Matching Grant with a club in Bangalore to provide bio-sand water filters to schools in Rotary District 3120.   On 1/30 Allan Remley from a Canadian NGO visited and on 2/16 Bob Horvath and his wife from the same organization are visiting.  They hope to start a similar project in another part of India.  Many local Rotarians have also visited the Kolar workshop and some Rotary Clubs in India have purchased water filters to donate to schools in their towns.  It is all very exciting for us.

Before we left India we set our program director, Ramachandra, up with a computer, internet access, and a digital camera.  He has been wonderful about sending us e-mail at least once a week and an occasional picture or two.  It is a real treat for us and a necessity so we can keep tabs on the operations of the workshop.

We received an e-mail on December 31^st telling us that the total number of water filters manufactured had reached the “century” mark.  At that time there had been 102 filters manufactured, 17 delivered to families, 16 ready to be delivered, and the rest either curing or being painted.  We are impressed!  They have several molds in use now and more being manufactured so that means the production rate is still on the increase.

In one month’s time we were able to leave a fully operating workshop that is manufacturing inexpensive water filters targeted for the lower income population in the villages in India.  They are easy to operate and require no electricity, no chemicals, no replaceable parts, very little maintenance, will provide enough clean water for drinking and cooking for 15 people per day that will last 25 to 30 years.

We had some people from the press come to the workshop on Monday and the concept has already been publicized in many of the area newspapers.  On Tuesday we conducted a demonstration in Chatra-Kodahalli, a village of 1,800 people located in Kolar.  The filters were well received and the two we brought for demonstration were sold on the spot and left there.  We understand there were five more sales yesterday and orders for approximately 50 more.  Wow!  There are more molds being manufactured so that production can be stepped up to meet the incredible demand.  We are still glowing from the entire experience and cannot wait to return to the wonderful people of India.

When Mike returned from his trip last year he thought about the problem a great deal and did a lot of research.  He discovered an inexpensive water filter that was developed in Canada.  In June he spent four days in Calgary at a seminar learning how to make the filters and implement a program to build and distribute them.  The filters are being used with much success in many developing countries around the world.  We hope to start a program in the town of Kolar India (which is in the southern part of the country near the city of Bangalore) to make these filters and distribute them to the poor.

As many of you know I am a member of the Rotary Club of Hamden.  We received a very generous grant from the McKenzie Foundation to start this water filter program.  We have e-mailed many Rotary clubs in the Bangalore area where we will be and have had positive responses from four of them.  One of the people who responded was the district governor last year.  We hope to make several presentations of the filter technology at Rotary meetings and develop some long lasting relationships.  Rotary offers some matching grants when clubs from different countries work together, so we hope we can find a club that shares our enthusiasm with this project.

We have also made some contacts with another non-profit organization, the DHAN Foundation, which is located in Southern India who train people to make these same water filters we are interested in producing.  When we first arrive in India we will travel to see them.  They are currently building us a mold which we will purchase in order to make filters.  The DHAN Foundation has been contacted by the Indian government to start a rain harvesting project in Kolar (where we will be) and have scheduled a meeting with us to see if we can collaborate on our projects.  We are very excited about the prospects!

We had a laptop computer donated to the project.  We are donating a digital camera.  A friend who is a regional sales manager at Dell is trying to get a projector donated.  We will leave all three pieces of equipment with our in-country director so he or she can give our PowerPoint presentation to American companies who have a presence in South India as well as other NGO’s who have water programs such as rainwater harvesting that might benefit from the water filter technology.  The computer will also give us the communication link through the internet so we can monitor the program and fundraise while in the States.

There is so much potential to develop this program into something quite remarkable I am bubbling with enthusiasm and optimism.  The support from my friends has been motivating and inspirational.  This technology is so simple and effective, it has a momentum of its own!