Texas-based Christian ministry provides clean water to residents living near polluted river in Kenya

Amid the endless rows of tightly packed shanties lining the outskirts of Athi River, a city with an ancient lineage situated about 20 miles from Nairobi, the U.S.-based Christian nonprofit organization The Bucket Ministry is bringing the gift of clean, safe drinking water to residents who have long struggled with unsafe water sources.

The Texas-based ministry has announced its plans to distribute water filters to a quarter of Athi River’s population, specifically targeting the city’s four slums: Bondeni-Jua Kali, Kanani, Slaughter and Sophia. The initiative is focused on combatting the rampant waterborne diseases afflicting these communities, where municipal plumbing is absent and sewage management is non-existent.

Christopher Beth, founder and director of the Bucket Ministry, said that of the total cases reported at local clinics, “40 out of every 100 are water-related illnesses.” Beth believes this figure can be substantially reduced by providing simple and easy-to-maintain water filters. The ministry plans to distribute Sawyer PointONE filters, connected to buckets, that promises up to 20-plus years of clean, safe, drinking water.

This effort, the ministry says, follows the success of its previous work in Kibera, Nairobi’s informal settlement and Africa’s largest slum. In this settlement, the ministry managed to equip half the households with filters, drastically reducing self-reported diarrhea rates from 52.7% to 2.2% within roughly 70 days.

Learn more about this project here.