Ron Rivera, (Coordinator of Ceramic Water Filter and International Projects, Potters for Peace; sociologist, potter and appropriate technology enthusiast) recently died.
William Grimes wrote the New York Times Obituary for Ron Rivera.Ron Rivera liked to call his ceramic water filters “weapons of biological mass destruction [sic--Mr. Rivera's wording was "bacterial mass destruction"].” For 25 years he traveled to poor villages throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia teaching local potters to make what appears to be a big terra-cotta flower pot but is in fact an ingenious device for purifying water.Sawdust or ricestraw fibers in the clay used in molding the pots burns during firing, leaving many fine pores which allow water to pass through but not bacteria.
Gray water to clean water
Gray water enters the filter at the top; Clean water collects in a larger pot and is dispensed through a spigot at the bottom
Molding a ceramic water filter pot in a press
Out of the mold
Filters stacked in a kiln for firing
The final product: the filter sits inside a larger pot that collects the clean water ready for drinking, cooking and washing
More about Ron Rivera:
- Ron Rivera's Profile at Changemakers
- Ron Rivera Memorial page at Potters For Peace
- Ron Rivera Memorial blog at Potters Without Borders
My favorite water development group is Water Partners International.
"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral" --Paulo Freire
