"A Water Carrier" For The Developing World That Cleans As It Rolls

SUSTAINABILITY & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

"A Water Carrier"

For The Developing World That Cleans As It Rolls 
via FastCoexist & Safesipp.org

With a few simple modifications, the same five-gallon barrels used for storage can be repurposed to solve a major barrier to clean water access for millions of people.


Millions of people lack access to tap water, and every day, need to lug water to their homes from streams, lakes, and collective faucets. We've written about several helpful tools to help them carry water, including these wheels and balls. But SafeSIPP--a new device from three Arizona State graduates--has the potential to do more. In addition to transporting water, it also cleans the water at the same time. 

 Social Entrepreneurship and The Water Crisis

SafeSIPP is a social venture addressing three problems facing rural communities in the developing world: transportation, purification, and safe storage of drinking water. SafeSIPP has integrated a three-phase water purification system into a barrel that activates as the barrel rolls across the ground. Unlike others in the market, who only transport OR purify water, SafeSIPP adds value by both transporting AND purifying large amounts of contaminated water.

The SafeSIPP system improves the current method of transportation by more than doubling the amount of water retrieved during each trip and reducing the travel time to and from the source by 80%.

The patent-pending system is composed of an industrial barrel with an integrated purification system. As the system rolls from the source to the community, the water inside undergoes a purification process to remove disease causing contaminants.

MORE INFORMATION ON: Safesipp.org

Their idea is to repurpose standard five-gallon barrels—the type soda companies, say, cart around syrup with—and simply add on a handle. They then put a purification system inside, which separates out dirt, bacteria, and parasites. The project, however, isn't fully formed yet. The device functions and has been tested, but it hasn't been piloted in a real-world setting.

"People go the water source. They'll fill up the container, then as the barrel rolls to the village, it undergoes a purification process. Once they get to their home, people will be able to have clean drinking water," says inventor Jared Schoepf.
  

"We noticed that there were several products that allowed people to transport water, then there were lots of products that purify water. But there was really no one who was doing both," he adds.

SafeSIPP was recently accepted to a "conscious capitalism" incubator called Mac 6, giving the trio access to funding and office space. Schoepf and his two partners are now planning a trial this fall and hope to produce a product early next year, though they still need to find a supply of barrels they can repurpose.

 

The advantage of re-using barrels is keeping costs down. Schoepf hopes to sell the product for less than popular water carriers, like Hippo Water Roller, which has been criticized for being expensive. SafeSIPP will market to nonprofits who would actually distribute the device.


Schoepf, a chemical engineer by training, won't describe exactly how the purification system works, pending a full patent application. But if a single device could solve water carrying and purification issues at the same time, that would be a useful step forward in providing convenient water access to all.

MORE INFORMATION ON: 

Safesipp.org

SOURCE: A Water Carrier For The Developing World That Cleans As It Rolls BY Ben Schiller via FastCoexist 

BY Ben Schiller

Ben Schiller is a New York-based staff writer for Co.Exist, and also contributes to the FT and Yale e360. He used to edit a European management magazine, and worked as a reporter in San Francisco, Prague and Brussels Continued

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