Newsletter

It's that time of year again, time for the AVFCW newsletter! This issue introduces a collaboration between Valparaiso University students and members of Engineers Without Borders -- WAVES -- that is currently focused on building a water tank in Nicaragua, as well as a separate educational project in Haiti. When completed, the water tank in Nicaragua will meet the clean water needs of a growing village of more than 1800 people whose current tank regularly runs dry in the middle of the day during the dry season, forcing them to resort to Lake Nicaragua as their source of water. This new tank...

This issue of the AVFCW Newsletter focuses on the upcoming back-to-back workshop series that will be held from April 27-30, 2017 at the Columbiere Center. The Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage workshop will be held first, on April 27th and 28th, followed by the workshop on Drinking Water Quality Testing on April 29th and 30th. Instructors from CAWST will be leading the teaching and hands-on portions of the workshops, and there will be four evening speakers coming to discuss the challenges one faces in the field while doing water and sanitation work. For more information on both workshops please click here. To sign...

This issue of the AVFCW Newsletter highlights former AVFCW workshop attendees Ron and Carol Cousineau and their recent efforts to establish biosand water filter installations in rural Ecuador. "In Ecuador there are few cities with adequate water supply and few with sanitation. The vast majority of the population does not have access to potable water. Biosand filters offer hope to poor families, who get water from shallow polluted wells or rivers and streams and must spend a significant portion of their daily earnings to boil their water." Also, please note that the preferred method of sending out the newsletter has changed to an e-mail based format,...

This issue of the AVFCW Newsletter recaps our recent Sanitation workshop that held last month and some information on former student Shafali Bhavsar's clean water project in Nicaragua. "Most of the villagers rely on shallow wells which have significant arsenic levels and also bacterial contamination. The proposal is to drill a deep well in a central location and provide a distribution system to homes." Also, please note that the preferred method of sending out the newsletter has changed to an e-mail based format, instead of a PDF attachment. (Those that receive it in the post will continue to do so.) To sign up for the new e-mail...

This issue of the AVFCW Newsletter highlights our commitment to the people of Lebanon and the million+ refugees in the country, and our ongoing projects there. "The project was started in 2013 by all 27 Rotary Clubs of Lebanon. In April 2013 AVFCW Board members Eileen Heasley and Dr. Jeannette Saquet visited Lebanon for the second time to consult about the project. They provided feedback for improvements and suggested strategies to assure sustainability. After their visit Eileen and one of the project leaders, Lina Shehayeb, spent many hours consulting via Skype. Lina attended AVFCW workshop in the fall of 2013. In addition, AVFCW volunteers wrote grants and contributed...

This issue of the AVFCW Newsletter highlights our ongoing commitment to assist the people of Nepal after the horrifyingly destructive earthquake that hit the country a couple months back. We have been in touch with our partners at the KRMEF, located in Khahare, who in turn have been supporting reconstruction efforts in the area. "The recent earthquakes destroyed more than 500 homes in the village of Khahare, home of KRMEF. Since then KRMEF has been harvesting fresh spring water into tanks. They deliver this safe water to 26,000 people every day as many of the natural water sources they depended on have either moved or been broken. As of mid‐June...

The first issue of The Vision newsletter for 2015 highlights past workshop attendee Woody Collins and his involvement in bringing clean water to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Woody Collins, a Rotarian in Rotary District 6560 (central Indiana) where he serves as District Water and Sanitation Advisor, greatly appreciates the work of A Vision for Clean Water. Of the workshops, he said “the quality of the instruction, the quality of the facility and the generous scholarships makes it so you must drop everything and go. You can’t say No.” Download Here (PDF)...

In the latest issue of the AVFCW newsletter we spotlight just some of the many volunteers who play a major role in helping us achieve our mission.  Without their involvement none of this would be possible. Everyone has a talent, share yours with us and let us add you to our very impressive list.  Enjoy! Download Here (PDF)...

In the July edition of the AVFCW newsletter we get some insight into how the organization was started and how Eileen and John Heasley first came up with the idea for an educational non-profit. After returning from Nepal, the Heasleys researched water purification methods and emailed a MIT professor who happened to be in Nepal. Her students installed two plastic biosand filters that Eileen and John donated for an orphanage in Nepal. The Heasleys received a nice thank you note saying their donation saved lives and so the idea for AVFCW began. Download Here (PDF)...

In the first edition of the AVFCW newsletter for 2014 we get reacquainted with board member Erica Gwynn, and are introduced to Tom Hunt, founder of the Maisi water project in Cuba. The process of installing the first bio-sand filter in Maisi proved difficult. Getting the mold to the village took 17 hours on washboard-like roads. With great anticipation they poured the first filter. But they could not extract the filter from the mold and had to break the filter. The second and third attempts were also unsuccessful. After more research Tom returned several months later with a welder friend who...