Safe Water & Sanitation
Boy watches Clean Water flow from UV Tube Sri Lanka.
Photo Credit: Amy PickeringLack of access to safe water and poor sanitation practices are recognized as fundamental causes of debilitating disease and death in developing countries. The Blum Center’s Safe Water & Sanitation portfolio of projects focuses on the development of the next generation of effective and affordable point-of-use (POU) water treatment technologies that remove biological and chemical contaminants. The technologies are specifically designed to respond to the needs of users in developing countries. The effort incorporates cross-cutting methodologies (needs assessments, consumer preference/marketing studies and epidemiological impact assessments) that both guide technology development and provide the basis for the business case to bring the technologies to scale.
The Blum Center provides support for the following projects in its Safe Water and Sanitation portfolio:
- Ultraviolet Tube Disinfection (UV Tube): Furthering the development of a low cost ultraviolet water treatment system that takes into account barriers to adoption and sustained use.
- Accelerated Solar Disinfection (A-SODIS): Developing safe, inexpensive and locally available additives for accelerating solar disinfection.
- Q-H2O: Antimicrobial Surfaces: Refining a technology that uses inexpensive, durable organic microbial surface coatings for POU water treatment.
- Electrochemical Arsenic Removal (ECAR): Advancing a technology to remove arsenic from groundwater using only a bit of iron and a very small amount of electricity as inputs.
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Arsenic Removal Using Bottom Ash (ARUBA): Designing and disseminating a device that utilizes bottom ash to effectively remove arsenic from drinking water.
Almost fifty percent of the developing world’s population – 2.5 billion people – lack improved sanitation facilities, and over 884 million people still use unsafe drinking water sources. Inadequate access to safe water and sanitation services, coupled with poor hygiene practices, kill and sicken thousands of children every day and lead to impoverishment and diminished opportunities for thousands more. (Source: UNICEF)
