Dear Friends,
As holiday season approaches and the year ends, we would like to take this opportunity to reflect on a busy year marked by progress, growth, and impact. Together with our partners, friends, family, and well-wishers, we have made significant stride towards addressing critical challenges in WASH human resource capacities and vulnerable communities around the world.
Since the inception of the WASH Capacity Building Program, a total of 271 students from 35 countries across Africa, Latin America, North America, and Asia Pacific have completed their Graduate Certificate in International WASH. In partnership with the University of Zambia and World Vision, DRI-CIWAS also organized a Groundwater Development and Management & Alternative Water Supply Systems Professional Development Course in Lusaka, Zambia. This brings to a total of 80 hydrogeology and engineering participants that have benefited from our professional development courses since 2023.
DRI-CIWAS has also progressed in our research on fluoride removal technology with our first successful field-site development at Beatty, Nevada, USA this summer. Experiments with groundwater reported removal efficiency to be approximately 90% in 60 minutes at a lower current density and approximately 75% in 15 minutes at a higher current density. With a slight increase in treatment time, the removal efficiency is also expected to increase. This is an integral insight that will inform future field experiments.
