Water is our most precious resource.
You hear it all the time on television. And despite situations like the drought in California, it doesn’t really affect our daily lives. We still have water to drink, cook with and bathe with. But what if we didn’t? In my travels, I’ve visited plenty of places where it wasn’t safe to drink the water.
The Dominican Republic was one of those. On my first trip, it didn’t really affect me. I just brushed my teeth with bottled water. But when I traveled to Puerto Plata with Fathom, all that changed.
One of the volunteer projects I was most excited about was creating clay water filters. I’d seen mentions of it on the company’s social media and it seemed like an important project to help out on. Unlike countries where there’s not enough water to go around and wells must be drilled, the Dominican Republic has the problem of contaminated water sources. On the drive to the volunteer site alone, we saw a massive landfill and stream covered in trash.
Our group arrived at Wine to Water’s outpost, where we met the family (from Boone, North Carolina!) who lives there alongside Dominican artisans. These folks use their knowledge of pottery, originally used by the Taino natives, to create water filters. They then sell them to anyone who wants them and also distributes them to the local community.
It starts as a pile of dirt before liquid silver and finely sifted sawdust are added. Water turns it into clay that is molded into a ball. The artisan showed us how to place it between pieces of plastic onto the mold. A guillotine-like lever is pulled to form the clay into the appropriate shape. Patches are covered to make the surface even and each filter is stamped with a Wine to Water logo and a serial number.
The filters then are baked in the kiln and tested for quality control. Each filter takes a different amount of time to clean the water, but they guarantee them for at least a year if properly cared for. You simply place the filter’s lips above a bucket, pour in the unfiltered water and let nature do its job. The filter’s materials pull out heavy metals and make the water clean and ready to drink. I drank the filtered water myself and now understand just how important this work is.
Wine to Water is a non-profit started by a North Carolina bartender to bring clean water to the world. They have other projects in Cambodia, Uganda, Nepal, and the Amazon. Visit their website to learn how to get involved.
I volunteered with Wine to Water while being hosted by Fathom Travel but all experiences are my own.
Very interesting. We waste so much water just brushing our teeth, and when as you say, you have to brush your teeth with bottled water you think twice the next time you let a tap run. I lived in a house in Alaska with a holding tank for all our water needs underneath it. I can tell you that 6 cents a gallon doesn’t sound like much until you’re flushing the toilet or taking a shower. This natural method of filtering the water in locations that don’t have clean water at the turn of a tap sounds great. I have a friend who worked in Africa for Doctors without Borders and all they had was a 10 gallon container of water with a little spigot for an entire hospital ward. Really makes you think…
Wow, this sounds like an amazing opportunity! The Dominican Republic is a beautiful place with so many things to offer every visitor. I’m so glad to see that you took time to leave a positive mark on this place. It’s so important to positively touch every place you visit! It looks like you really enjoyed yourself and made the very most of your time there! Very nice! Thanks so much for sharing your adventure with us!