Q-H2O Filter

Q-H2O: A New Class of Household POU Products for Low Cost Drinking Water

The underlying premise of the Q-H2O project is that providing poor households with access to a wider range of point-of-use water treatment options will lead to increased adoption and greater impact. The project’s goal is to develop a new class of household consumer products for disinfecting water using surface-bound cationic antimicrobial compounds. These compounds produce robust, permanent, antimicrobial compounds that can be applied to a variety of surfaces. Water is disinfected through contact with these surfaces.

Because the antimicrobial coating remains permanently bound to the surface, there is little maintenance required and no chemical alteration of the output water. This technology has the potential to produce devices that are effective against a broad range of waterborne pathogens. Furthermore, it is a technology that is very inexpensive to manufacture and can be optimized for easy adaptation. The project is a collaboration between researchers at UC Berkeley and the Aquaya Institute.

Principal Investigator: Professor Kara Nelson, Civil and Environmental Engineering; Professor Roya Maboudian, Chemical Engineering; Professor George Shanthikumar, Industrial Engineering
Partners: Dow Sustainable Products and Solutions Program (UC Berkeley); Lemelson Foundation; Mulago Foundation; Aquaya Institute
Field Location: India