David Manz
Millions of his water filters have reached the remotest corners of the world, purifying deadly contaminated drinking water and saving lives.
This year, engineer David Manz wants biosand filters (BSF) to reach the billions mark, including to Canada’s First Nations communities plagued by unsafe water.
“At the tender age of 70, I hope to pull it off,” he says.
Manz always loved sciences, and in a childhood spent on a small mixed-Saskatchewan farm “had to do everything.”
It prepared him well for engineering and, after completing his masters thesis (on snow), became a provincial flood forecaster, accurately predicting Calgary’s 2013 flood. But “it wasn’t a good-news job.”
He taught environmental sciences in Lethbridge while becoming a highly-skilled potter, teaching and holding exhibitions.
Manz received his doctorate intending to become a consultant, but in 1983-84 there were few jobs. He joined the University of Calgary as a professor of environmental engineering and, while working with its international development division, witnessed water problems in the developing world’s most remote areas.
“While water was available, almost 100 per cent of the time it was not safe to drink.”
Manz modified traditional slows and filters, making them smaller and more suitable for household use. In containers made of concrete or plastic, layers of prepared sand and gravel remove pathogens and suspended solids from contaminated drinking water.
A big project in Nicaragua saw the community become the country’s only one “cholera free.”
Manz started received queries from other countries and faithbased organizations such as Samaritan’s Purse about the filter.
He left the university and cofounded the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) in 2001, donating his technology and associated training programs.
By December 2016, 15.4 million people in 164 countries had better water or sanitation through CAWST projects.
Manz left centre operations, but isn’t retired from spreading his filter’s benefits — not when 1.8 billion people still drink contaminated water.
“It was, and is, my big opportunity to do something for the world in my life.”