Mission of Compassion
SLIPPERY ROCK — While Richard Wukich has traveled the world to give people clean water, the clay filters he helps to construct and distribute serve a much larger purpose: to save children's lives.
After a trip to Haiti last week where he helped to deliver hundreds of clay water filters to earthquake victims, Wukich said he has done the same thing all over the world to save as many children as possible. More than 5,000 children die every day because of contaminated water issues.
"If you could save one child every day, it wouldn't do a lot for the statistics — except if it was your kid," Wukich said.
Wukich, 66, of Scott Township, Lawrence County, a ceramics professor at Slippery Rock University, makes the filters on campus, and also is connected with organizations across the globe that have factories in third world countries. He was called to help distribute the filters last week when a site in the Dominican Republic became overwhelmed by the demand for them after the devastating earthquake in Haiti.
The filter consists of a bucket that has a spigot with a ceramic receptacle. The ceramic cone shape is filled with water, and the water is then filtered through the receptacle and drips into the bucket clean. The filter can clean two liters of water an hour.
The clay cone is made of equal parts clay and sawdust. A few grams of nanoparticles of silver are then added to the mix. When the clay filter is fired in a kiln, the sawdust burns away, leaving empty spaces for the clean water to sift through and into the bucket. The silver is the component that kills bacteria and parasites.
Wukich said the filter was developed by Ron Rivera of Potters for Peace in the late 1990s. Rivera died last year of malaria in Africa, Wukich said.
Last week, Wukich drove to Haiti from the Dominican Republic with his friend, Lisa Ballantine, who runs a filter factory, to distribute the filters.While delivering filters, they connected with members of another organization, Wine to Water, who were being interviewed by CNN reporter and news show host Anderson Cooper. Wukich explained the clay filter method to Cooper, but the coverage didn't make it on air as President Barack Obama attended a Republican retreat the same day.Wukich said that when the camera crews and reporters pack up and leave Haiti, the needs will still be there, and this water filter can become a sustainable resource for the people."This is a critical public health issue," Wukich said. "We can build these machines anywhere in the world. The silver comes out of Spain and it's very expensive but goes a long way."When Ballantine called him for help, Wukich said he felt compelled to get down to Haiti and distribute the filters."When you send over bottled water, you drink it and put it in a ditch," Wukich said. "This is sustainable."Among the pancaked houses and wreckage left from the earthquake, the professor said he didn't experience seeing the bodies in the streets that many others had. On the other hand, he felt a deep sense of resilience."There was this lust for life," Wukich said. "These people were just living, the sun was shining, people were smiling and they seemed to cope. There was just this spirit."
