service

el molle service

In the Sacred Valley of the Incas in Peru, there are over 40,000 poor families who live in rural mountain villages. Most of these families don’t have access to potable water.
Gastrointestinal infections, including dysentery, parasites, diarrhea and other intestinal problems are prevalent, contributing to a high mortality rate.
Eroca initiated a grassroots non profit organization, DESEA, (Desanollo Sostenible en Acion, Sustainable Development In Action) committed to providing families in the Sacred Valley with clean water. Several others have joined in and now we have one filter “factory” in Calca and are about to set up a second one in Ollantaytambo. If you would like to contribute, contact elmollepisac@gmail.com.
Ten percent of retreat profits are donated to this project.
We make presentations to communities to teach about hygiene and to provide poor families with the materials and knowledge to construct their own biosand filters, and how to teach their neighboring communities to do the same.
Within the first three months of starting our project in January 2008, with one mold, a few hand tools and the help of community members, we installed 29 filters.
The donations that we receive provide sand, gravel, cement, tools, transportation and education. As we grow, donations also provide new molds and sets of tools to start up a new filter production workshop in another area. The recipients of the filters provide the labor.
We also make filters for families, organizations and businesses which can afford to pay for them. All profits are recycled back into the project, helping to provide the much needed raw materials for more filters.

about biosand filters
These filters work in the same way as traditional slow sand water filters, which have been used for centuries.
The biosand filter can be built anywhere in the world because it requires local materials which are readily available. It is simply a concrete container with layers of sand and gravel inside which removes dirt, bacteria, viruses and parasites and other impurities from the water.
The biosand filter has a high flow rate, up to sixty liters per hour. There are no ongoing costs, no replacement parts. It is durable and robust, it lasts for ages. It is fabricated with local materials, a mold and a few hand tools. It is easy to maintain and the water is clear and good tasting.
In both laboratory and field tests, the biosand filter has been proven to remove almost all the disease-causing organisms found in water. The filter has been tested by various government, research, and health institutions as well as by non-governmental agencies.
Overall, these studies show that the biosand filter removes more than 90% bacteria, 100% of protozoa and helminths, (parasites), 50 -90% of organic and inorganic toxicants, up to 67% of iron and manganese.