The AguaClara team at Cornell University is conducting basic research to create robust technologies for drinking water treatment that will be both ecologically and economically sustainable. Our innovative designs are appropriate for both resource poor communities and for forward thinking communities everywhere.
AguaClara plants are designed to treat turbid surface waters at the municipal scale. They are built by local labor using local materials, and they don't require any electricity. AguaClara partners with local institutions, who design, build, operate, and train the operators to ensure long term sustainability. AguaClara plants have a one-time construction and capacity-building cost of $15 to $30 per person served. The annual fee for operation and maintenance is approximately $2 per person. |
Diarrheal diseases, mostly from unclean water, claim the lives of approximately 5000 children throughout the world every day. Drinking untreated water and using it for bathing are major causes of waterborne disease. When coupled with basic sanitation, access to sufficient safe drinking water reduces this toll dramatically (UNICEF, 2005).
Many municipal water treatment plants in the Global South have been based on conventional technologies designed for use by wealthy nations. They are not sustainable when operated away from their normal supply chains, trained technicians, and capital investments, and it is common to see these plants sitting unused or broken in cities with unsafe water. In the communities that are capable of maintaining the complex machinery and computer systems in these plants, there is often a massive debt between the utility and the electric company.
AguaClara technology is an innovative way to bring economy of scale to water treatment, while maintaining simplicity of design that can be sustained by resource poor communities. The AguaClara plants require no electricity and all repairs can be completed with local materials and labor. Plant designs are robust and scaled to meet the projected need in each community for years to come. The project also provides sustainable designs for towns that were previously considered too small for community based water treatment.
We have been unable to find any databases that have sufficient detail to characterize the global demand for the AguaClara technology. We can create a very rough estimate based on a few assumptions. The demand for robust, energy efficient, water treatment technology is based on a combination of the large unmet demand for safe drinking water, the increased demand due to population growth and urbanization, and the need to replace aging infrastructure.
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