Mission Statement

AguaClara is a project in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University that is improving drinking water quality through [innovative] [research], knowledge transfer, Open Source Engineering and Design of sustainable, replicable water treatment systems.
The AguaClara project continues Ezra Cornell's vision: his sense of invention, his focus on the future, his belief in hands-on learning, his dream of a well-rounded education available to anyone.
 

The entire AguaClara team is engaged in the endeavor of expanding the knowledge base for creating a sustainable future. We are convinced that the most effective way to develop new solutions is to integrate field and laboratory research. We have 7 laboratory-based and 1 computation based research teams (with 2 or 3 students each) working to improve water treatment technologies. We also have a large design team that is creating the computational algorithms for designing drinking water treatment plants. There are currently 10 Master of Engineering students, 2 M.S., and 1 Ph.D. students working on the project. Working with partner organizations who build the water treatment plants is a critical part of the project research since it is the feedback from the operating plants that helps guide the research agenda. The AguaClara project combines research, outreach, service, and learning in such a way that it is impossible to remove one of the components without destroying the project. We are engaging with disciplines beyond engineering with close connections to business and public health and are working to extend that engagement in the coming months. There are rich opportunities for multidisciplinary research. In this part of the wiki you will find documentation of the Cornell based research teams.

Read more About AguaClara in our Concept Paper.

Learn more about the AguaClara technology.

News

2007 In Review
[In the Press...]

During the summer of 2007 we set a goal that our partners would build AguaClara water treatment plants to serve 10,000 people. Since then International Rural Water Association, IRWA, built a plant that is serving 5400 people in Marcala and Agua Para el Pueblo, APP, built a plant that is serving 3500 in Tamara. The $70,000 project was financed by nine Rotary Clubs with the Somers Rotary Club taking the lead. We succeeded in keepings costs below $20/person, a price that is lower than any other municipal scale water treatment technologies. In June I had the pleasure of participating in the inauguration ceremony for Tamara. Several hundred people came for the festivities. My favorite ceremony was a toast and a good drink of water made by the plant.

APP has requested that we further refine our design to create an ultra-low cost municipal water treatment plant. For our Fall 2008 project we are taking on this challenge. We are designing an innovative water treatment plant with shallower tanks for Cuatro Comunidades, a community near Tegucigalpa. Thanks to our contributors we have raised $50,000 to build this full scale pilot facility. Our goal is to start construction in September with completion by January. We thank you for helping to provide safe drinking water for Cuatro Comunidades while at the same time investing in this technology innovation. We have already tested the shallow tank design at pilot scale in our facility at the Cornell University Filtration Plant and are confident that we can produce safe drinking water at full scale. Our new design includes several innovations that will make it possible to build water treatment plants that are so economical that many more poor communities will be able to afford the plants.

Through generous support from the Sanjuan Fund, we have two AguaClara [Engineers Abroad], John Erickson and Tamar Maya Sharabi, who are on assignment in Honduras for a full year starting in August, 2008.

From January 4 to 20, 2008, 18 members of the AguaClara team traveled to Honduras to work on the water treatment project. Anne Ju, a reporter for the Cornell Chronicle spent one of those weeks in Honduras covering the successes of the project. Six of her articles on AguaClara have appeared in the Cornell Chronicle.

Contribute to Our Project

Our work is only possible through the generous contributions of our sponsors. We need funding to continue to develop the most efficient and cost effective drinking water treatment plants. Our implementation partners also need support to build these plants. Financial contributions can be made to support the technology development or the implementation by sending checks to Cornell University with a note designating the funds for the AguaClara project.

Send checks to:

AguaClara

220 Hollister Hall

Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853

QUESTIONS? Contact the project director:
Monroe Weber-Shirk (Cornell University)
Phone: (607) 255-8445
Skype monroeweber-shirk

The work on the AguaClara wiki is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License