Game-changing water filter removes fluoride and bacteria from Kenyan household water

In Kenya, 12.8 million people suffer from excessive fluoride exposure due to contaminated drinking water. This leads to health issues like bone deformation and discoloured teeth, as well as reduced job prospects. Now, for the first time, a consortium of four organisations has developed a unique, low-cost household filter that removes both bacteria and fluoride, without using electricity or wastewater. Funded by Partners for Water, this innovation seems to be a game changer. Nazava Water Filters’ Lieselotte Heederik and Marleen Ophorst explain more.

“Empowering households by giving them the opportunity to take control of their own water quality is the mission of Nazava Water Filters” explains Heederik, the organisation’s co-founder. Pursuing this goal, the consortium (consisting of Resilience BV, Nazava Water Filters Ltd, Harbauer Limited, and Delft University of Technology) has developed an innovative filter. It combines Nazava’s proven ceramic technology for removing bacteria with HAPaqua’s fluoride-absorbing unit, based on hydroxyapatite. Ophorst, Nazava Water Filters’ Project Manager, adds: “We believe in decentralised solutions that make safe drinking water – free from bacteria and fluoride – accessible to households in areas where that is far from guaranteed.”

Social enterprise with a mission

“Nazava is a for-profit social enterprise that has deliberately chosen a commercial model to deliver a social mission,” explains Heederik. “We believe this contributes to product sustainability and customer satisfaction. If our product doesn’t work, our customers will tell us. And if they don’t want it, they won’t buy it. The market keeps us accountable for quality and relevance.”

“Simultaneously, we are driven by a sense of justice,” Ophorst shares. “This combination makes us quite unique. There are very few companies in the water sector that combine a social mission with a commercial approach while focusing specifically on household-level solutions.”

Collaboration is key

According to Ophorst, the collaboration between the four partners runs smoothly: “Each organisation brings its own expertise. We all have a clear role and learn a lot from each other.” TU Delft contributes academic research, Harbauer brings fluoride removal expertise, and Resilience drives the project and oversees management. “We are truly complementary,” confirms Heederik. “That’s what makes the partnership strong.”

Why not reverse osmosis?

“Traditionally, fluoride contamination in drinking water is treated through reverse osmosis. But this isn’t a sustainable solution,” shares Heederik. “It’s expensive, energy-intensive, and produces wastewater.” The consortium’s solution is a true game changer. “Our filter works by gravity, completely without electricity,” says Ophorst. “That makes it much more accessible for both urban and rural households, but also allows NGOs working on water security to reach far more people, simply by reducing costs.”

Users at the centre

A major pillar of the project is involving end users. “For one month we tested our product among 50 households in Nakuru” says Ophorst. “Each week we asked them for honest feedback: ‘Don’t tell us what you think we want to hear, tell us what you really think.’” That open approach paid off. “Users even helped us think through improvements for rural communities lacking basic infrastructure and they also referred new customers who would benefit from this solution.”

“We remain in touch with our 50 first users,” Ophorst continues. “We’re still monitoring long-term performance; the amount of fluoride the filter continues to remove depends on the original water quality and how much is filtered.”

High demand and future prospects

Heederik and Ophorst have presented the project at various international conferences, including World Water Week in Stockholm and the World Water Forum in Bali, as well as events in Kenya. “At every conference, we’re reminded just how high the demand is for a sustainable bacteria and fluoride filter,” says Heederik. “We even received a call from a representative of the Nairobi dental association, showing interest in our product. That really confirms the scale of the problem.”

“People are recommending the filter to friends and family, and demand is growing,” says Ophorst. “This makes me incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved over the past year and of the whole team involved.”

A game changer in the making

Although the product is still in the testing phase, early signs are promising. “We have a solution that is scalable, sustainable, and truly meets people’s needs,” says Ophorst. “People are already calling to ask: ‘Is it available yet?’” The consortium has submitted a new funding application to test the filter with users from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.

Heederik concludes with a clear invitation: “We’re actively looking for financial, technical, and operational partners who want to help bring this game changer forward. So we can bring the smiles back to the faces of children in Kenya.”