Clinical and Microbiologic Efficacy of a Water Filter Program in a Rural Honduran Community

Water purification in the rural Honduras is a focus of the nonprofit organization Honduras Outreach Medical Brigade Relief Effort (HOMBRE). We assessed water filter use and tested filter microbiologic and clinical efficacy. A 22-item questionnaire assessed water sources, obtainment/storage, purification, and incidence of gastrointestinal disease. Samples from home clay-based filters in La Hicaca were obtained and paired with surveys from the same home. We counted bacterial colonies of four bacterial classifications from each sample. Sixty-five surveys were completed. Forty-five (69%) individuals used a filter. Fifteen respondents reported diarrhea in their home in the last 30 days; this incidence was higher in homes not using a filter. Thirty-three paired water samples and surveys were available. Twenty-eight samples (85%) demonstrated bacterial growth. A control sample was obtained from the local river, the principal water source; number and bacterial colony types were innumerable within 24 hours. Access to clean water, the use of filters, and other treatment methods differed within a geographically proximal region. Although the majority of the water samples failed to achieve bacterial eradication, water filters may sufficiently reduce bacterial coliform counts to levels below infectious inoculation. Clay water filters may be sustainable water treatment measures in resource poor settings. 1. Introduction Worldwide, over 1 billion people lack access to improved sources of drinking water. The lack of potable water greatly contributes to the presence of water-related illness, especially in developing countries [1]. Many communities in Honduras lack access to clean water. This is especially true in rural areas; approximately ninety-nine percent of the country’s urban population has access to improved water compared to eighty-two percent of the country’s rural population [2]. As much as ninety percent of rural water supplies in Honduras come from intermittent or unreliable sources [3], and water purification efforts reach sixty percent of the country’s total population, yet only fifty percent of the country’s rural communities [3]. Worldwide, diarrhea is among the leading causes of mortality in children under the age of five. Availability of clean water has previously been associated with lower mortality and a lower risk of child diarrhea [4]. The lack of clean drinking water in rural Honduran communities results in a large potential for the development of waterborne illnesses and potential death in infants and young children. Diarrhea accounted for seven