This excerpt from “Special Envoy” takes us by canoe to the heart of the Amazon, in a hamlet where about thirty villagers live. They are among those some 40,000 people who, in French Guiana, are totally deprived of drinking water – that is almost one inhabitant in five.
For lack of running water, here, we drink rainwater, recovered in cans via a gutter installed under each roof. Despite the cloths stretched as a filter above the cans, it is quickly unfit for consumption because of the bacteria that develop there. And to do the dishes, we use water from the Maroni river, with all the associated risks of disease.
A completely manual pump, which works without electricity
But a black cylinder will change the lives of the inhabitants… It is the invention, unique in the world, of a Nantes association: a fountain which makes drinkable all the so-called “surface” water, that of lakes, rivers, wells or brackish waters. Antoine Jalaber, 32, one of the founders of the association, will install one of these fountains with the help of municipal employees. It will be able to supply completely free drinking water to the entire hamlet and neighboring villages, i.e. 800 to 1,000 people every day.
Designed to work in remote places where the electricity network is absent or of poor quality, the fountain is entirely manual. The water pumped by the force of the arms, by turning a crank, goes through five successive filtration stages to eliminate all the particles it may contain. The last filter is ceramic, a material with tiny pores. Their diameter of 0.2 micron, less than that of bacteria and viruses, retains them while allowing water to pass through. And at the end, perfectly drinkable water flows from the tap installed on the wall… which will be confirmed by a check by the Regional Health Agency.
Excerpt from “The engineer and the miraculous fountains”, a report to see in “Special Envoy” on November 10, 2022.
> Replays of France Télévisions news magazines are available on the franceinfo website and its mobile application (iOS & Android), “Magazines” section.