Water Purification Scalability. Point-source chlorination has been successfully implemented and scaled up within only a select few Guatemalan municipalities. However, implementation of such purification initiatives on a national scale has proved challenging. The 2006 study by Xxxxxxx and peers attempted to scale up the purchase of flocculant-disinfectant as the main point-of-use water purification method in underprivileged communities in Guatemala (Chiller et al., 2006). A subsequent study published by the same team evaluated the long-term success of the intervention by assessing the rates of flocculant-disinfectant purchases sixth months after the initial study. They found that “[e]ven after efficacy was demonstrated within their community and an aggressive sophisticated marketing approach,” merely 5% of the original households purchased the flocculant-disinfectant for point-of-use water purification during the 2 weeks prior and used it within the last week (Xxxx et al., 2008). Effects on the taste of the water, which has high cultural value in Guatemala, may explain these outcomes. In Guatemala, the social enterprise called EcoFiltro sells clay, point-of-use mechanical filters that have virtually become the most accessible water purification option for rural, indigenous families. Despite the filter’s popularity, it has encountered similar issues in comprehensibly reaching most of rural Guatemala with its technology, and hence, the scalability of their sales. Given how the government’s efforts to scale up chlorination, researchers’ efforts to introduce flocculant-disinfectant, and even a local company’s efforts to deliver mechanical filtration have all, for the most part, failed, attempts to scale up other purification technologies (i.e. Aquatabs, sand/rock filters, etc.) are likely to meet similar failures. One could even go as far as to say that in most circumstances, the technology that is introduced rarely matters. What weighs more heavily is the mechanism by which long-term behavior change–in this case utilizing the technology consistently–is achieved. With a vacuum of sustainable purification programs currently in place, Guatemalan households must resort to boiling their water, which is costly in terms of firewood, labor, and often increases exposure to indoor air pollution. EcoFiltro’s technology, however, is unique in that it is low-cost, can be controlled at the household level, is similar in style to clay pots used traditionally for water storage, and does not change the taste...
