WORK


Water-2.png 100L Water PROJECT

BACKGROUND

Access to water is a basic human need. Yet, in many areas of the world, access to even a basic quantity of clean water for drinking, domestic use or for a kitchen garden is a daily challenge. The average woman in rural India walks more than 8700 miles each year, gathering and carrying on her head or hips heavy loads of water that is often contaminated by human and animal waste, fluoride, and arsenic. Water use also represents energy use for pumping and purification. There are numerous solutions related to water. One of the major constraints for distributed communities is that many of the solutions have to be deployed at a larger scale and this scale implies community consensus, which either impedes adoption rates or implies diversion or subversion by the existing power structure.


A sustainable system providing individual water security, if adopted, would free up valuable human capital, increase health of the community, and ensure low energy use around current and future water consumption, and contribute to multiple benefits at the same time: social, environmental, health and economic.

 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The 100L Water Project believes rainwater has the potential to provide reliable, pure water to areas of the developing world without the need for government intervention or upgrades to community-level infrastructure. Rainwater harvesting provides clean water at home and is one of the approaches supported by the Rural Water Supply sector of the Indian Government.


The 100L Water Project is developing an integrated rainwater harvesting and end-use system targeted to consumers in rural India. System components include low-cost storage, off-grid pumping, and designed sink with greywater recycling. The system will empower users to take full control of their water supply and demand. In doing so, we hope to inspire individuals to revisit and rethink their interactions with water.


OBJECTIVES

Water is a highly integrated issue. By attacking the water issue, one simultaneously has the opportunity to generate employment, address food and agriculture, reduce environmental footprint, and address social issues such as the burden borne by women and water disputes.


How do we create a sustainable product that will ensure individual water security and drive aggressive diffusion rates? For this to happen, the system must be:

 

  • Independent of government or community level action
  • Low threshold of adoption
  • Low cost and preferred to the current water solution
  • Simple to use and maintain
  • Extremely reliable
  • Powered by renewable/human energy
  • Transportable easily without the need of trucks
  • Scalable
  • Likely to spread virally