Kevin Lee
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Kevin Lee 2007 fellow
Bold Idea
Develop safe, effective water systems in villages across the Philippines through the combination of low-cost water purification technology and local community ownership.
Organization
Over 13 million Filipinos lack access to a safe water supply, which exposes them to serious health risks and fosters long-lasting conflicts around this scarce resource. Significant infectious water-borne diseases plague the country. A Single Drop for Safe Water (ASDSW) combines low-cost technology with local community ownership to bring effective water systems to villages across the country. The BioSand Filter, one of ASDSW’s many technologies, is a household water treatment that removes ninety-five to 100 percent of disease-causing organisms, which helps families take responsibility to improve their own health. Through the creation of community water organizations, or Water PODS (People Offering Deliverable Services), ASDSW empowers community members to implement this technology as well as to promote water education and self-reliance, while removing their dependence on outside funding sources. Water PODS train surrounding villages to spread access to safe water rapidly to the millions suffering without it.
Biography
Kevin Lee was educated in New Zealand, where he earned a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical). After graduating, he worked as a consulting mechanical engineer, specializing in heavy industry in the north island of New Zealand. From 1995 to 2001, he worked in the steel industry in Georgia, U.S.A. His other jobs include general foreman for a 13" rolling mill, mill engineer, and production foreman in a mill start-up. After spending two years working as an industrial emission control equipment project manager, Kevin joined the Peace Corps as a water and sanitation volunteer in the Philippines. After his term was finished, he stayed in the Philippines and co-founded A Single Drop for Safe Water. In five years, Kevin developed the program and operations to expand from a staff of one to two offices with twenty-eight staff working in Water and Sanitation development from a good governance approach.
