A worker lines up ceramic water filters at a factory in Twante, in Yangon Division.

CERAMIC water filters have helped provide safe drinking water to thousands of households in Myanmar but more work needs to be done to improve awareness of their value, the head of NGO Thirst Aid said at an industry conference last week.

Many water filters were distributed in the Ayeyarwady delta following Cyclone Nargis but water safety knowledge is still low in many areas, Mr Curt Bradner told ceramic water filter producers, technicians and NGO representatives at a summit in Yangon on December 3.

“Most educated people don’t willingly and knowingly drink contaminated water, much less give it to their children. Although ceramic water filters are culturally acceptable, people have to realise that [clean water] is essential for daily life,” Mr Bradner said.

The filters were first introduced in 1981, in areas of the Central Dry Zone where access to safe drinking water is limited. In 2006, Mr Bradner brought his advanced ceramic water filter technology to Myanmar and, in cooperation with Dr Khin Maung Win, established the Community Development Association (CDA).

CDA has since helped set up eight ceramic water filter factories in Myanmar – four in Twante, two in Yangon, one in Pathein, and one in Sagaing – that employ local workers and use locally sourced materials, thus providing income for communities.

The Twante factories were all set up following Cyclone Nargis, when NGOs were looking for a cheap and simple way to provide clean drinking water.

However, according to a French Red Cross (FRC) survey of the ceramic filter program in Middle Island in Mawlamyinegyun township, the water filters are easily damaged.

“There are a few challenges implementing this program. The ceramic water filters are fragile,” FRC’s water, sanitation and hygiene coordinator U Thurein Maung Maung, said. “We have found 97 percent of people are still using the filters two months after distribution. This means 3pc stop using them, mainly because of the slow filtration rate, the tap is broken or the actual filter is broken.”

Mr Robert Brox from the International Red Cross (IRC) said the survey found quality control is another important factor, particularly given the difficulties transporting filters from Yangon to delta areas.

“We found that some filters are of poor quality and that if the tap or filter is broken, they are useless. Furthermore, they are not easily manufactured at the community level,” Mr Brox said.

Nevertheless, producers should look at developing a private, rather than NGO market, for the ceramic filters, Mr Matthew Wright of Myanmar Research Development (MMRD) told seminar participants.

He pointed out that private companies with bigger marketing budgets would soon be competing for the same consumer dollars, which could make it more difficult for NGOs to influence behaviour change.

“A US$30,000 awareness campaign can’t compete with Coke’s billion dollar marketing campaign, so it’s important to create brand awareness in order to create behaviour change,” he told attendees. “Depending on donors is unsustainable; we have to create a model that can depend on itself, so that if all the foreign people in the room were to disappear tomorrow, the programs could still function smoothly.”