December 2008 - Halcrow

eople hobble down the mud tracks
P
dissecting the Naivasha slum in
Kenya’s Rift Valley on spindly,
malformed legs that buckle under their
weight – evidence of excessive fluoride in
the region’s water. Other symptoms include
mottled tooth enamel and warped bone
joints, causing sufferers considerable
pain and discomfort.
In February, Water and Sanitation for the
Urban Poor (WSUP) – a not-for-profit
organisation of which Halcrow is a founding
member – launched a project to reduce
fluoride levels in the drinking water to
internationally-recognised safety standards.
Given the lack of established infrastructure
and prohibitive maintenance costs, the
fluoride removal processing plant had to tick
price, simplicity and sustainability boxes, in
addition to fulfilling mandatory performance
requirements.
Intended to eventually provide water,
sanitation and hygiene services for 600,000
residents of the Mirera-Karagita district, the
initial rollout will serve a pool of 5,000 locals.
Halcrow’s David Best – working closely
with the UK-based WSUP project
team – was called in to support the
on-site project manager, shouldering
technical responsibility for reviewing and
recommending treatment options.
Crushed cattle bones
were recommended as
an ideal filtering media
Currently water is pumped via a borehole to storage tanks,
then collected and sold to villagers on donkey carts
Naturally occurring and readily available,
crushed cattle bones were recommended
as an ideal filtering media for use in the
treatment plant. As the water passes through
this media, the fluoride is absorbed onto the
‘bone char’, making the water safe.
With clods of red earth turned to lay
foundations for a pilot plant and Halcrow’s
ongoing support, Naivasha will soon turn on
the tap to clean, fresh and safe water.
A basic right
Over one billion people worldwide live
without clean drinking water and twice as
many lack basic sanitation. As a
founding member of WSUP in 2004,
Halcrow pledged to help meet the United
Nations’ Millennium Development goal to
halve these staggering statistics by 2015.
Some 27 Halcrow employees from
Glasgow donned their trainers for a
Sunday morning workout, courtesy of the
Mens Health Forum Scotland 10km run.
The sponsored race took place in the city’s
Bellahouston and Pollok parks in June.
Leading the pack was Stuart Andrew
who completed the course in a highly
impressive 39 minutes.
The dreaded ‘C’ lurks in every family, in every
genetic history. Few have escaped cancer’s
reach – most of us have relatives and friends
who have battled with the disease.
Halcrow’s Ranjit Nair is one of the lucky ones,
having undergone treatment for leukaemia
several years ago. Now recovered, he has
been working unrelentingly to raise money
for the Christian Medical Mission Hospital’s
Cancer Foundation in Vellore, India.
Acute health care is prohibitively expensive
in India. Without an adequate state-funded
service, treatment for leukaemia and other
blood conditions typically runs into tens of
thousands of rupees – more than a lifetime’s
wages for India’s labourers.
Healing hands
When the Cancer Foundation’s work
blipped across Halcrow’s radar, local
employees stepped in to the tune of £640.
This contribution will help the haematology
department continue to perform free and
subsidised bone marrow transplants and
other specialist treatment to some of its
poorest patients, many of whom are children.
But it’s only the start of Ranjit’s mission to
raise funds for this most worthy cause. Those
wanting to contribute should contact him at:
nairrb@Halcrow.com
The other 26 runners all finished in
respectable times – given their varying
levels of fitness – raising well over
£3,000 for Cancer Research.
Ranjit’s close contact with the hospital proved
the impetus for his fundraising quest, after
witnessing families’ excruciating struggle to
pay for life-saving treatment.
Ranjit presents a cheque to Dr Mammen at the hospital
www.justgiving.com/halcrow10k