World Water Day - March 22

Water for Humans commends the vital link between water and forests recognized at this UN website for World Water Day.

Gen2 stove development update

I know it's been a while, so I thought it was about time to let you know what we have been up to the past month or so.

Over the past few weeks I have met with several machine shops, pattern makers and casting outfits.  I started with lead that Charlie (Board Chairman) has to a CNC machine shop "GearWorks" in George Town (South Seattle).  It turned out Roland could not help us directly, but connected me to the casting company just behind his shop. The casting company then connected me to Steven Gary who is an expert in designing and machining molds.  From this meeting we came up with several design changes (I knew there would be once we spoke with the experts in mold making).  The bummer is we needed a design to show them to get their feedback and suggestions.  Like all engineering projects they take time and several modifications along the way to get what one wants and needs.  Gary has great ideas to help us redesign the parts and tools that will make them easier to build  and cheaper. :)

So now we are back to improving the design.  As part of this process we are trying to get the "SolidWorks" CAD software company to donate or discount several licenses so we can get all of our engineers using the same software platform.

Our goal is to be ready to build 50 Gen2 stoves in Chiapas by the end of the year.  This will be a tight schedule, but I think we can pull it off.

New Sodium-Ion Desalination

Sodium-Ion ​Desalination: A ​New Method to ​Remove Salt ​from Water ​Using Battery ​Materials

The ​technology that ​charges ​batteries for ​electronic ​devices could ​provide fresh ​water from ​salty seas, ​says a new ​study by ​University of ​Illinois ​engineers. ​Electricity ​running through ​a salt water-​filled battery ​draws the salt ​ions out of the ​water. ​-more-

Your gifts make greatness possible!

Giving makes clean drinking water possible across Oaxaca and Chiapas in Mexico
 
Clean water is a basic human right. Not a perk. Your donation ensures the rainforest communities of Oaxaca and Chiapas have the access to clean water that they need and deserve. Please make your gift today. Your support means so much!
Gratefully,
Rick, Stan & the Water for Humans Team 

 

Fall 2015 Newsletter

As the year comes to a close, and a new holiday season begins, we at Water for Humans want to update you on our important achievements in 2015 and say THANK YOU! Our achievements were possible only because of generous donors like you, who help us bring clean water technologies to indigenous rainforest communities in Oaxaca and Chiapas.

OUR GEN2 COOKSTOVE PROJECT -
IMPROVING, EXPANDING, AND SERVING NEIGHBORING COMMUNITIES

Since 2012, we have been working to build clean cookstoves in the Mazateca region in the mountains of northeastern Oaxaca, Mexico, where over one hundred indigenous communities are nestled in the coffee-growing region of a remote rainforest. Our cookstoves help curtail deforestation and maintain freshwater ecosystems in rainforests that play a vital role in stabilizing the Earth's climate and are home to 1.6 million people who rely on them for their livelihood.

This year, we made great strides towards improving our first generation La Mazateca cookstoves, which have already been installed by 89 families in four communities in Oaxaca, Mexico, directly benefiting 600 individuals.

• Our engineers crafted 3-D computer aided designs for a second generation stove (Gen2) that improves on our previous design by including a more versatile combustion chamber and options for an oven, a room heater and a water heater.
• To aid in Gen2's development, our local partners at The Hunger Project - Mexico are using questionnaires and interviews to analyze additional stove improvement possibilities.
• And, we secured a grant to conduct onsite field testing of our stoves in Mexico with GIRA (Grupo Interdisciplinario de tecnologia Rural Aprolada).

In the upcoming year, we plan for our improved second generation (Gen2) La Mazateca cookstove to benefit families in Chiapas, Mexico, and to reach a greater number of indigenous households in Oaxaca.

• To achieve this, we will conduct certification testing of our Gen2 stove at Aprovecho (a cookstove research center in Oregon). This will be followed by design improvements and production tooling.
• Once our Gen2 stove has been tested, we will travel to Oaxaca and Chiapas to hold workshops that will train new, local stove builders to construct and maintain our Gen2 cookstoves.
• Working with regional professionals and community members, we will guide indigenous stove builders as they form a social venture enterprise to distribute our Gen2 stoves in a greater number of remote rainforest villages.

HOW CAN YOU JOIN US IN THE NEXT STEPS OF OUR COOKSTOVE PROJECT? Donate

Consider making a one-time or recurring donation. Your contribution will directly benefit underserved communities in Oaxaca and Chiapas, and help us ensure they have access to safe, clean water. Drop by drop, penny by penny, we are changing lives.

You can also do your online shopping at AmazonSmile. Select Water for Humans as your charitable organization, then every eligible item earns us 0.5% of the purchase price. (Click here for more information)

Kind Regards,

Today is World Toilet Day - UN Sanitation Update

Though the world met the MDG target for drinking-water, 768 million people do not use animproved source of drinking-water.

In developing regions, 87% of the population uses an improved source of drinking-water while 2.5 billion people, or almost one third of the population, do not use improved sanitation. Within the developing world (without counting India and China) in 2011,  870 million people have gained access to improved sanitation since 1990, but there is a 12% increase of population using unimproved facilities in this region for the same 21-year period. -more-

Please come and join us

Come to the annual Water for Humans
Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) kid-friendly donor appreciation party Sunday, Nov 8^th 3-6 pm
Two Dog Yoga Studio
12549 28th Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98125
Enjoy tamales, hear a couple of new stories, and connect with friends old and new.
Register Here!!!