GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., March 22, 2011– Honduran President Porfirio Lobo and safe water advocates Triple Quest, Health and Humanitarian Outreach Projects (HHOP), Safe Water Team, and Vida Abundante Ministry have announced a new collaboration to install 40,000 Hydraid® BioSand Water Filters throughout Honduras during the next five years. Over the longer term, the group envisions supplying Honduras’ need for more than 265,000 of the innovative filters, which have been shown to effectively combat the leading causes of death and disease in the developing world by reducing parasites, bacteria and viruses found in contaminated water.

“As the global safe water community convenes in Cape Town to mark World Water Day 2011, we are very excited to share the news of our latest collaboration, which will multiply the individual efforts of our partners exponentially,” said Christina Keller of Triple Quest. “Working together, we will reach more than 400,000 individuals throughout Honduras, bringing families enough safe water for all their drinking, cooking and washing needs. We will also provide training, education and follow-up with each recipient to ensure their complete satisfaction with the Hydraid filter. Our studies continue to show that Hydraid is improving the health of families who use it as part of an overall program of hygiene and sanitation, but it is the newfound joy on their faces that makes the most compelling statement. The filter literally changes their lives and ours,” added Keller.

According to recent United Nations reports, one in two people on the planet lives in a city. The world’s urban population is growing at an exceptional rate, with 93% occurring in poor or developing countries, and nearly 40% focused in slums where infrastructure has not kept up with the rate of growth. Piped water coverage is declining in many settings, leaving the poor with the worst services and the highest water prices. Like many nations confronting these trends across the developing world, Honduras has urgently sought solutions to the problems of safe water access and waterborne disease.

Designed and manufactured for Triple Quest by Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Cascade Engineering, the Hydraid® BioSand filters are simple, lightweight units with no moving parts. Users can reduce contaminants by pouring surface or ground water through the filter to obtain water that is safe for drinking, food preparation, personal hygiene and sanitation. With no parts to replace and powered by gravity, the Hydraid® BioSand Filter is extremely durable and lasts beyond 10 years, making it the most sustainable filter available today.

Triple Quest is a collaborative venture involving Cascade Engineering and The Windquest Group, a West Michigan-based private investment fund. Recently, Triple Quest fulfilled a 1,000 filter commitment to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake and subsequent cholera outbreak. The organization accomplished its work through partnership with nonprofit groups Safe Water Team, Thirsting to Serve, HHOP, Rotary and Pure Water for the World; socially responsible companies such as Amway, Dow, Bobble and Lighthouse; and the U.S. Navy’s Project Handclasp logistics support initiative.