We produce low-cost, solar-driven, drinkable water plants specially designed for remote communities of the developing world. We focus on local-user empowerment as a guarantee for successful operation and maintenance. To do so, we developed a 3-branch strategy: easy-to-use technology, financial sustainability, and community capacity building program.
Most of the initiatives do not consider community capacity building as a core part of the solution, which not only consists of teaching how to operate the water treatment facility but to increase local means under a holistic view. With this, the population can have the technical, financial, and social resources to deal with a system’s long-term operation.
Current technology is costly, requires a steady supply of chemicals or filtration materials, skilled personnel for operation and maintenance, and consumes large amounts of energy. Hence, the average lifespan of these types of installations is 2 years, being abandoned by the users after the first few catastrophic failures, unless external assistance is provided.
Potabilis technology -means drinkable in Latin- consists of a potabilization plant based on analogic systems, using as minimum removable parts as possible, without the need for membranes or filters. It employs few instruments, being thermometers most of them. We are focusing on the simplest operation and user's interface with one on-off switch for power, and on-off valves for flow control, in the essential spots. Click here to learn more about Potabilis.
Our approach allows:
- Low operation and maintenance training requirements, as well as no prior skills background requirement.
- Fewer moving parts and control requirements.
- Fewer maintenance requirements.
- Implementing the solution in any sort of community, regardless of its existing skills.