Superior, simple technology that is changing the world

A problem and a solution

People caught in a disaster-devastated area always need clean water. By clean we mean without bacteria—the little unseen critters that make people sick with diseases like Cholera. Without it, they cannot maintain their health and strength and they cannot begin recovery.

Ron Mathis and the Texas Baptist Men’s Water Ministry, the group Ron chairs, are very aware of the importance of potable water. They travel to impoverished or war-torn parts of the world and into places wrecked by natural disasters.

To provide clean, drinkable water to these areas, the Texas Baptist Men initiated the development of a practical, inexpensive, but very effective, ceramic water filter. They call it the “Just Water Ceramic Filter.”

Ron described it as, "A ceramic, half-micron water filter. The micron removes water-borne bacterium. The inside of the filter is loaded with different media or ingredients, such as man-made carbons, mother nature carbons and man-made resins. Those different resins and carbons remove the different contaminants in the water.

“So if we know where a person will be taking and using this filter,” Ron said, “we can load that filter with the correct media. That will provide the filter with a bacteria wall that will remove the bacterium.”

Simple Design

According to Ron, teaching people how to assemble the Just Water Ceramic Filter does not require printed instructions or even the ability to speak the local language. Individuals only have to watch someone put this water filter together to learn how to do it.

Nor does the assembly call for any unusual or hard-to-find tools.

“This is the simplest form of water filtration that you could have,” Ron said. "It’s extremely simple to use and maintain. Easy-to-use was one of our main goals. Every time we design a filter system - small or large - simplicity has to be part of that design, or it’s just a waste of time and money".

“I say jokingly but seriously: If an MIT student likes our filter, the people who need it will never learn how to use it!”

Easy Assembly

Putting the Just Water Ceramic Filter to use only requires two plastic, same-size containers with lids and a knife or some other tool that will cut a hole in plastic.

Ron said, “This is a two-bucket system, one mounted atop the other. The buckets or containers must be plastic, but they can be almost any size — two-gallon, five-gallon or ten-gallon. Size doesn’t really matter. My personal filter that I travel with all over the world is two, plastic, Folgers coffee cans.”

Assembly begins by cutting two holes: one in the bottom of the top bucket and one in the lid of the bottom bucket. The filter is then centered in the top bucket, with its stem going through the hole. That stem is threaded, so it can be secured with a wing nut.

The top bucket is then mounted atop the bottom bucket, with the filter stem going through the hole in the lid of the bottom bucket.

“When you put water in the top bucket,” Ron said, “it passes through the filter, into the hollow stem and drips into the bottom bucket.”

Accessories

The Texas Baptist Men have enhanced their Just Water Ceramic Filter by also developing a pre-filter sock and a spigot.

The sock, which fits over and protects the filter, can be secured with a rubber band. It’s used in areas with extremely turbid water that has contaminants such as fish scales or fecal matter. And the spigots provide a handy, easily installed faucet.

Testing

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, as well as other laboratories, have tested the Just Water Ceramic Filter. They found the system very effective in filtering all bacteria from laboratory test water.