Conference call August 2, 2012 On the call: Bego, Nazneen, Lois (partial notes, I had to leave half-way through) Discussion began about distribution of SONO filters in the areas of Bangladesh that still need them. Filter disposal is a problem? Perhaps due to arsenic but as soon as the contaminated water is removed from the ground there is that problem. Should someone drink the water; arsenic will be excreted and recontaminate the ground. The filters will contaminate in one specific place. Does SONO filter produce enough water per day for all the household uses? Maybe not. Bollywood actor hosted program on water on MagicTV. Suggested rainwater capture. Why is this not already a well-used solution in Bangladesh? It is being used in household and community systems in some places. Would mold or bacteria become a problem? There must be groups that have studies on this. At the Bangldesh Chemical Conference (2010?) there was discussion of the water hyacinth use to adsorb arsenic. Is our focus on the prize-winning focus OK? If our focus were to shift, perhaps that would simply be distracting from the goal of getting arsenic free water to prople who need it. Even if the SONO filters do best as a short term solution prior to getting a community system, how does the marketing get done? Would a distributed marketing system work in Bangladesh? How could we get this to mesh with Dr. Munir?
Conference call (Oct 4) all about use of biochar. It seems to be pretty versitile.
Used as soil amendment to retain moisture and nutrients even in sandy soil. Used as latrine sorbent to retain nutrients for ultimate use as fertilizer. Used a sorbent to remove contaminants from water.
Nazneen heading to Bangladesh soon.
"the power is in the network"