Welcome to AguaClara! AguaClara is a research organization at Cornell University that designs sustainable, electricity-free water treatment. This technology is then implemented in Honduras and India in a partnership with Agua Para el Pueblo and AguaClara LLC. All of AguaClara's research is open-source so please look through this wiki page or visit our website aguaclara.cornell.edu to learn more!
AguaClara News and Updates
Keep up to speed with the AguaClara team at Cornell. |
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An Interview with the newest APP Technician, Bayron Zuniga
During our trip, we were gracious enough to meet some pretty amazing people. One of which is Bayron, a 20 year old newly appointed APP technician. In the short time we were able to spend with him, we learned so much about his past. Here is his story of schooling, working, family and his love for AguaClara. *all answers are roughly translated from Spanish* Why water treatment? "I saw the |
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Las Vegas Inaugurates 14th AguaClara Plant!
The 14th AguaClara plant in Honduras was inaugurated on Saturday, February 18th in Las Vegas, Santa Barbara! The inauguration marks the culmination of 8 months of construction, 2 months of monitoring and follow-up, and several years of design and water quality analysis. The event was attended by the Vice President of Congress, the Secretary of Congress, the Governor of Santa Barbara, as well |
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Gracias, Honduras
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An Interview with the APP Technician, Antonio Santos
Written by Erica Marroquin and Lilly Mendoza Lilly and I sat on the concrete steps in front of an AguaClara plant in Cuatro Communidades, probably holding PVC pipe and discussing the new 1 L/s plant that was just placed there. Antonio, the long-time technician for Agua Para el Pueblo, passes us and says, "Paisanas!" The little boy Edgar that lives next door chuckles at us. We look at each other |
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What's the Wifi Password?
It was a warm evening in Gracias. After a long day of meetings with important water board members, we found ourselves in a charming, hole-in-the-wall pupusa restaurant. We divided into small groups to sit at different tables. As we ate and chatted about the day, we looked up to see that there, at the other table, were two students staring blankly at their handheld devices. They were completely |
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Community and Aguaclara Plants
During our adventures in Honduras, it has become obvious that a local community plays a huge part in the success and development of an AguaClara plant. With over a dozen plants now in operation, after 8 days we have had the chance to see a variety of plants and the towns and people who they serve. The difference between plants where the local people actively engage their plant and those where |
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Hope (and a lot of hard work)
On Wednesday morning, we traveled from Marcala to Gracias. La Esperanza, or Hope, is a small town between Marcala and Gracias where we stopped for a quick break and stretch. Stepping out of the vans and into town was immediately awe-inspiring. The main square in La Esperanza is paved with stones and has 100 foot trees surrounded by seating, flowers, and people chatting. At the very center of the |
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Flat Head
Written by Jay Castro and Yinghan Hua We'd become complacent. We'd heard rumors about one of our own spending the day at the Mayors domicile, feverish and taking only fluids, but that felt still somehow distant, like it couldn't possibly happen to us, not nine days in. We told ourselves, "We have iron stomachs! Give us your frijoles, your foreign microbiomes! They'll find Liberty on the golden |
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Our Honduras Homestay
Written by Sidney Lok and Ruizhe (Samantha) He During our trip so far in Honduras, we stayed in many hotels. Among the hotels, there is one that is located on the mountain, which takes 20 minutes of a rocky drive to get there. There is also one that is just along the highway, but has several separate houses with capacity for up to 3 people in each. The whole team made so many wonderful |
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A wonderful day with beautiful scenery and tasty food
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Building a one liter per second water treatment plant
By Andrew Kim The AguaClara team has recently developed its latest innovation: a one liter per second water treatment plant. This small system can convert one liter (about ¼ gallon) of dirty, river water into clean, drinking water in a single second without the use of electricity. A one liter per second plant could potentially serve a village of about 40-50 homes in Honduras, a place where |
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“This is the First Time I Felt Like an Engineer”
By Peter Martin and Kelly Stefanski Within 6 hours we went from a borderline blizzard to a hot and humid paradise. The first few days were a bit of a blur as we dealt with severe rainstorms and a lot of time spent traveling in vans through the country. On top of that, there was obvious culture shock happening as we attempted to acclimate to our new surroundings. One of the first |
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Updates from San Juan Guarita and Las Vegas!
The 5 L/s plant in San Juan Guarita is now nearing the final stages of completion! The team is currently wrapping up fabrication of two Enclosed Stacked Rapid Sand Filters (EStaRS) with a PVC workshop in Tegucigalpa, and next week the team will travel to San Juan Guarita to begin work on the chemical dosing system. On the social side the team has already narrowed the operators |
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Celebrate 3 milestones for AguaClara
1 L/s plant ships to Honduras for testing The 1 L/s sedimentation tank is shipping to Honduras VERY SOON. It will leave the Hollister Hall loading dock for Miami this afternoon! The pallet weighs 625 lbs without the flocculator. We will assemble a new pipe flocculator in Honduras in January. We have 2 student teams working to design a shorter filter that can be added to the 1 L/s plant and |
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Master of Engineering Application for 2017
The AguaClara program in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University provides an opportunity for Environmental Master of Engineering students to learn about and to invent planet (and people) friendly, sustainable water and wastewater technologies. The program is designed for students who are passionate about making the world a better place and who are preparing for |
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New 5 L/s Plant in San Juan Guarita, Lempira, Honduras!
Construction of Honduras' smallest AguaClara plant yet is under way in San Juan Guarita, Lempira. The plant will treat 5 L/s for about 200 households in this small municipality in southwestern Honduras and will feature several innovations to the AguaClara technology. The San Juan Guarita plant will be the first to include our new, compact entrance tank and flocculator design. The new entrance |
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Sustainability Workshop in Honduras
AguaClara and Agua Para el Pueblo (APP), our implementation partner in Honduras, are working to strengthen our network of treatment plants in Honduras. This past week, from April 14-16, we hosted a workshop for the water board leaders and plant operators from all of the communities with AguaClara plants. The workshop had several objectives: review and standardize operation and maintenance |
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Breaking Ground in Las Vegas, Santa Barbara
We are very excited to announce the beginning of construction of the newest AguaClara plant in Honduras. Located in Las Vegas, Santa Barbara, the country's 13th AguaClara plant in its 12th community represents a large step and unique challenge for AguaClara and Agua Para el Pueblo. Las Vegas has two water sources, one much dirtier than the other. The high turbidity water will be treated by |
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Call for Applications - AguaClara Engineer in Honduras
Now accepting applications for AguaClara Engineers with Agua Para el Pueblo in Honduras to begin in Summer 2016! To learn more, please click on the link below. The application form will be open until 11:59 PM EST on Feb. 29, 2016. Open Application Form |
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First Month of Operation in San Matías, El Paraíso
Operation of AguaClara's twelfth water treatment plant in Honduras began in the last week of September, 2015. The plant treats 14 L/s and serves about 700 households spread across four communities in the department of El Paraíso: San Matías, Robledal, Corral Falso, and San Francisco. Six operator candidates have been operating the plant for the past few weeks under the supervision of an |
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Groundbreaking in San Matías, El Paraíso
Construction has begun on AguaClara’s 11th water treatment plant in Honduras! The new plant will treat 14 L/s and serve about 3,500 people in four communities: San Matías, Robledal, Corral Falso, and San Francisco. The project is being financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (COSUDE) and the community, and will include the construction of the plant as well as training |
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Support AguaClara and help create a new lab space!
This summer Cornell AguaClara will be moving all of our project teams into the project lab space in the basement of Hollister Hall. This is an exciting opportunity for us. We are currently 60 students spread across 5 lab spaces on 2 floors. In this new lab, we will be in one contiguous space and sharing ideas (and tools and lab supplies) between teams will be easier than ever. The new lab will |
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Inauguration in Jesús de Otoro
January 21st, 2015 was the inauguration of the AguaClara treatment plant in Jesús de Otoro, Intibucá, Honduras. Now having operated for 2 months, the water treatment plant is part of a larger development project in the town that has also improved the sewer system and roads. These parts of the project were also inaugurated along with the plant. The entire project was funded by the Swiss |
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Jesús de Otoro, AguaClara's 10th Plant
The AguaClara program is proud to announce the operation of the full scale water treatment plant in Jesús de Otoro, Intibucá, Honduras. This plant is the 10th to come on line in Honduras in less than 10 years and provides clean drinking water to more than 4,000 people. This means AguaClara technologies in Central America supply potable water to more than 40,000 individuals! Construction of |
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Team Spotlight: Ram Pump
The main purpose for the Ram Pump is to provide AguaClara plant bathrooms with clean water. This semester the Ram Pump subteam will be focusing on deciding whether or not the Ram Pump should be a stand alone entity or a part of the plant itself. Ultimately, deciding whether or not to include the Ram Pump as a part of the plant is a cost consideration. The pump could be sold separately to reduce |