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The AguaClara team has addressed each of these shortcomings. Our strategy to reduce the engineering design costs is to both publish our design algorithms and create an automated, web-based, design tool that will enable partner organizations to obtain detailed design documentation including 3-D CAD drawings of an AguaClara plant that is customized to the size of local materials that will be used for construction. The team has developed designs for hydraulic flocculators that are economical to construct. These designs are based on a combination of fundamental fluid mechanics and ongoing research. The team has invented a gravity powered Flow Controller that delivers a constant flow rate and that is adjusted simply by raising or lowering a flexible tube. The AguaClara team has committed to open source engineering (freely sharing all of our research findings and our design algorithms). Although the AguaClara design process is sophisticated, the resulting designs appear deceptively simple and use components that can be repaired and replaced by plant operators.
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Successes
AguaClara has already proven to be successful at treating turbid surface water on the municipal scale. Working with Agua Para el Pueblo, a Honduran NGO, AguaClara has designed water treatment plants that are working effectively and providing safe, clean water to 2000 people in Ojojona, and 3500 people in Tamara (sponsored by Rotary and the Sanjuan fund) Honduras. Our largest design to date is a 2000 L/min plant in Marcala (sponsored by IRWA with construction supervision by IRWA and ADEC and serving 5400 people). Construction of a new plant in Cuatro Comunidades is soon to start, and a new site will be chosen for the next fundraising efforts.
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Goals
Having shown that the AguaClara technology is successful in Honduras, we plan to expand to additional municipalities in Honduras and to begin extending to other countries in Latin America. Our goal is that AguaClara plants serving a total of at least 20,000 people be constructed in Honduras by the summer of 2009. Our partner in Honduras, Agua Para el Pueblo, will need financing of approximately $300,000 to meet this goal. Recognizing the global Global Demand for AguaClara Technology for this technology, we seek to develop a network of Implementation Partners who are dedicated to knowledge transfer and capacity building and who can help disseminate the technology in other countries. Our growth model emphasizes South to South spread with strategic North to South collaborations. We propose holding a workshop in Tegucigalpa, Honduras to meet with NGOs from Latin America and to begin the training process with new regional partners. Our Five year plan includes starting a second launch site in Africa or Asia.