The cement containers are filled with sand and the plastic pipe exiting at the bottom of the filter and returning up the side combine to form a “trap”, similar to the trap under a sink. As water in both sides of a trap seek a uniform level, the height of the outlet of the pipe is adjusted to maintain approximately 2 inches of water on top of the sand in the container. As polluted water is poured into the container through a diffuser plate that controls the rate of flow, clean water that has traveled through the various layers of the sand filtration process and exits the pipe into receptacles.

Working together with the Methodist Church of Haiti in cooperation with the Michigan Area Haiti Task Force (Detroit and West Michigan Conferences of the of the United Methodist Church), the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), Pure Water for the World and Rotary clubs, the program will be a model for other agencies and organizations to also provide needed clean water in Haiti. Funding received through UMCOR and Rotary will be used to manufacture the bio-sand water filters and deliver them to central points for distribution to elementary and secondary schools related to the Methodist Church in Haiti.