Ceramic Water Filtration Provides an
Inexpensive Solution to Clean Water in Rural Mexico
June 16, 2015
Story at-a-glance
I am very proud of our involvement with
CATIS-Mexico, which is working to provide pure water
to rural areas in Mexico
The filters used by CATIS-Mexico are made in a
simple hand mold using locally available clay and
burn-out material (such as waste sawdust)
One CATIS filter produces about 24 liters of water a
day, requires little maintenance, and lasts two to
three years.
The next phase of these simple, inexpensive filters
incorporates biochar – a charcoal that absorbs heavy
metals
This combination unit helps to remove pathogens
along with dangerous components in the water like
arsenic and fluoride
By Dr. Mercola
I’m very excited to be partnering with an organization named
CATIS-Mexico. CATIS-Mexico is a non-profit organization
based in San Miguel de Allende, in Guanajuato State, in central
Mexico. CATIS-Mexico’s mission is to work in partnership with
economically limited communities to improve the lives of the
people in these communities, and to help develop their health,
economies, and sustainability of the environment by providing
training and technical assistance.
The Independence Watershed, in Guanajuato State in the heart
of Mexico, has struggled for decades due to overexploitation and
pollution. The region began drilling and extracting water at
unsustainable rates starting in the 1940s. This has left the
groundwater and surface water highly contaminated with fluoride
and arsenic, and is now considered to be in a permanent state of
decline.
What is happening is that because of the effects of
overdrilling and extraction, naturally occurring minerals are
being concentrated to toxic levels. The levels of fluoride are
more than 12 times the allowable level in some communities.
Levels of bacteria in the water are also high.
Working to Improve the Safety of Drinking Water
CATIS-Mexico is committed to help provide resources and
training to communities in these regions with access to safe and
clean drinking water. One of their major projects and successes
has been the development of ceramic filters, which can provide
clean water for drinking, free of bacterial contamination.
The filters used by CATIS-Mexico are made in a simple hand
mold using locally available clay and burn-out material (such as
waste sawdust). They are fired in a kiln and then treated with a
colloidal silver solution to kill pathogens.
One CATIS filter produces about 24 liters of water a day,
requires little maintenance, and lasts two to three years. It
can reduce the cost of potable water from $0.10 a liter to
$0.001 a liter, which is 100 times less expensive.1
The intent is not just to develop these filters, but also to
provide training and resources for local communities to set up
their own kilns and make their own filters, and in the process,
create sustainable micro-businesses. Dylan Terrell, the
executive director of CATIS-Mexico, is one of the volunteers
working tirelessly in this endeavor. When I visited
CATIS-Mexico, outside of San Miguel de Allende last year, I met
with Dylan and others to see their work first-hand.
The ceramic filters are making a great impact on the safety
of drinking water in these local communities in central Mexico.
However, the clay filters, in and of themselves, are not able to
remove
fluoride from the water. CATIS-Mexico is interested in
technologies that can be coupled with these filters to also
remove fluoride.
The Next Phase: Adding Biochar to Remove Fluoride
CATIS-Mexico is working with bone char and biochar– a
charcoal that absorbs heavy metals--which can be created locally
and which may help remove pathogens along with dangerous
components in the water like arsenic and fluoride.
Researchers at Northern Illinois University (NIU) in DeKalb,
Illinois are collaborating with CATIS-Mexico to develop these
technologies
CATIS-Mexico has also documented the horrible
effect of fluoride on children’s teeth, including distorting
and decomposing teeth at an early age. This is the same fluoride
that is intentionally added to water supplies in the US and
Canada in order to “protect” teeth. Additionally, CATIS-Mexico
has also demonstrated the disastrous effects of fluoride and
arsenic water contamination on children’s IQ.
I have seen drawings made by children from the region
compared to drawings made by children in other areas where
contamination of groundwater is not an issue. In other regions,
children’s drawings of people look normal – stick people with
houses, the sun, and the ground. In the Guanajuato region,
sadly, the drawings are distorted and not cohesive. The
detrimental effects of fluoride contamination are affecting the
future of these communities.
Working on Solutions: How You Can Help
Our Chief Research Scientist, Dr. Michael Lelah, has been
working with Melissa Lenczewski. Melissa is the Director of the
Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability, and
Energy/ENVS, and she is an Associate Professor in the Department
of Geology and Environmental Geosciences at NIU. Melissa and her
students are actively involved in a number of projects in
partnership with CATIS-Mexico.
One of her projects is to find ways to reduce fluoride
concentration levels for drinking water for communities in
Guanajuato region. Melissa and her students visit CATIS-Mexico a
couple of times a year in order to conduct experiments and learn
how to apply their lab experiments to real life in the local
communities.
We have been working with Melissa and her students on
technologies for binding fluoride ions during filtering of the
water and looking at incorporating binding agents into the
ceramic filters in order to make them more efficient at removing
fluoride.
As mentioned, as another approach, we are looking at bone
char and biochar – pyrolized (burnt) carbon, which may be able
to reduce fluoride levels as well. This is a combination of
basic scientific study, taking into account the practical
limitations of being able to transfer the technology to the
local communities – the filters have to be made locally and
inexpensively, and be easy to implement for households.
As we recognize Fluoride Awareness Week and focus our
attention on activities to remove the fluoride intentionally
added to many US cities’ drinking water, let’s also recognize
the devastating effects of naturally occurring fluoride on other
communities, and the work being done by organizations and
researchers to remove this toxic substance from drinking water.
Your support is greatly needed, and I encourage you to
support these organizations:
To support efforts to eradicate the addition of fluoride
to drinking water supplies in the US and Canada, please
donate to the
Fluoride Action Network (FAN)
This week we launch Fluoride Awareness Week. We set aside an
entire week dedicated to ending the practice of fluoridation.
There's no doubt about it: fluoride should not be ingested.
Even scientists from the EPA's National Health and Environmental
Effects Research Laboratory have classified fluoride as a "chemical
having substantial evidence of developmental neurotoxicity."
Furthermore, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), 41 percent of American adolescents now have dental
fluorosis—unattractive discoloration and mottling of the teeth that
indicate overexposure to fluoride. Clearly, children are being
overexposed, and their health and development put in jeopardy. Why?
In the featured short clip below, Dr. Jay Levy, a practicing
dentist in Portland, exposes the demonstrably false claims made by
Dr. Phillip Wu in Healthy Kids regarding the facts on fluoridation.
The only real solution is to stop the archaic practice of water
fluoridation in the first place. Fortunately, the
Fluoride Action
Network (FAN) has a game plan to END water fluoridation
worldwide. Clean pure water is a prerequisite to optimal health.
Industrial chemicals, drugs, and other toxic additives really have
no place in our water supplies. So, please, protect your drinking
water and support the fluoride-free movement by making a
tax-deductible donation to the Fluoride Action Network today.
Internet Resources Where You Can Learn More
I encourage you to visit the website of the
FAN and
visit the links below:
10 Facts About Fluoride: Attorney Michael Connett summarizes
10 basic facts about fluoride that should be considered in any
discussion about whether to fluoridate water. Also see
10 Facts Handout (PDF).
Health Effects Database: FAN's database sets forth the
scientific basis for concerns regarding the safety and
effectiveness of ingesting fluorides. They also have a
Study Tracker with the most up-to-date and comprehensive
source for studies on fluoride's effects on human health.
Together, Let's Help FAN Get the Funding They Deserve
This is the week we can get FAN the funding it deserves. I have
found very few NGOs as effective and efficient as FAN. Its team has
led the charge to end fluoridation and will continue to do so with
our help!
So I am stepping up the challenge. I'm proud to announce for the
fifth year in a row now, a portion of sales up to 25,000 will be
donated to Fluoride Action Network.
Please make a donation today to help FAN end the absurdity of
fluoridation.