On an abroad journey to Cambodia as an undergraduate, Chong Tee vividly remembers seeing a bit of boy standing in entrance of a murky nicely crammed with insect larvae. The boy had his palms cupped as he leaned over and drank a handful of the nicely water.
Regardless of his consciousness that globally, entry to wash water was a problem, that second impacted Chong Tee. Perturbed by the encounter, he made a private oath to make sure nobody must dwell with ingesting water of that situation.
In 2014, Chong Tee, and co-founders David and Vincent conceived Wateroam. The three met by a Hydropreneur Programme – an accelerator programme began by Public Utilities Board (PUB) and Nationwide College of Singapore (NUS) enterprise.
They recognized Asia’s lack of entry to wash water would exacerbate throughout a catastrophe. An unlimited variety of individuals are compelled to drink water straight from probably contaminated sources like rivers and lakes particularly in rural areas.
Regardless of their completely different disciplines, David from Enterprise, and Vincent and Chong Tee from Engineering, their like-mindedness for a world with out extended thirst fueled Wateroam’s improvement.
Addressing a world problem
Wateroam is tackling the worldwide problem of contaminated ingesting water – a significant reason for poor well being in rural and disaster-affected communities internationally. Two billion folks globally are nonetheless utilizing a supply of ingesting water that’s fecally contaminated.
Most of such communities drink straight from pure sources of water for his or her day by day wants. Sadly, a big a part of these water our bodies harbour micro organism and viruses which trigger diseases equivalent to Cholera, Ghardia, continual diarrhoea, and even untimely loss of life.
Wateroam’s innovation goals to sort out these challenges by social technological improvements.
“We had been capable of pool our assets and construct a working prototype that was deployed in Indonesia and Cambodia. We acquired a constructive response on the bottom, and had been additional motivated to discover a extra sustainable solution to replicate extra of such methods. That’s once we determined to construct our water innovation start-up to additional our trigger within the area.”
Chong Tee, co-founder of Wateroam
Balancing sanitation schooling and accessibility
Conventional faucet water provide from centralised water remedy crops are sometimes not obtainable in rural communities because of excessive capital prices and sophisticated setup processes.
Moreover, such infrastructure is time-consuming to construct, particularly when selections are influenced by current political and financial conditions. Clear water is a large societal value – in time, funds, and well being – for such communities once they don’t have any entry to wash ingesting water, forcing them to stay in poverty.
Factoring in pure disasters, native authorities wrestle to supply ample water inside the time and funding constraints.
Chong Tee provides: “The present resolution usually includes distributing bottled water, which is pricey and tough to ship to distant areas. The quantity of bottled water usually supplied can also be woefully inadequate for different wants equivalent to cooking or private sanitation.”
Though water remedy methods are generally supplied by reduction companies, stated methods are usually cumbersome, complicated, require scarce energy to function, and take a very long time to arrange.
Therefore, the necessity for an answer that’s easy, moveable, and reasonably priced.
Other than simple accessibility, Chong Tee emphasises how Wateroam can also be large on educating the lots.
“Many communities undergo from water-borne diseases as a result of they don’t perceive how polluted water can ultimately have an effect on their well being negatively. Because of this we mix our water tasks and programmes with Water and Sanitation, Hygiene (WASH) schooling to make sure that our beneficiaries practise good hygiene whereas utilising our water purifiers.”
Going from 50-kilogram metallic field to lengthy plastic cylinder
The climb to discovering a profitable resolution was no simple feat for the Wateroam crew. Chong Tee’s position requires him to work with engineering instruments and prototypes within the area. The sooner prototypes developed had been extraordinarily heavy and clunky.
He recollects the second the place the crew realised they wanted to focus additional on analysis and improvement efforts to expedite accessibility.
“Our first few merchandise included a 50-kilogram metallic field. Throughout certainly one of our area journeys, certainly one of my teammates broke his again whereas transferring the prototype. He then needed to endure surgical procedure which actually took a toll on the morale of the crew. It was an accident, however we felt extraordinarily horrible for inflicting him to endure such ache.”
It took the Wateroam crew many iterations and testing earlier than they discovered a design that match the native’s wants. Subsequently, they poured their efforts into designing a system match their focused necessities.
The crew can also be engaged on a distant monitoring machine that may assess whether or not the filter is working, or not. It additionally gives them with information equivalent to circulation price, and alerts them to when the system is being tampered with.
The mixture of Web of Issues (IoT) with Wateroam’s idea helps to strengthen the accountability of its water filtration methods.
The completed product –ROAMfilter Plus – permits responders to hold this technique in a backpack to transverse post-disaster terrains and supply clear water to folks dwelling in these areas.
It’s a moveable water filtration system that packs a excessive output capability of greater than 200 litres per hour, offering clear water for a complete neighborhood of 100 folks. It has a strong membrane know-how which suggests lengthy product life, and a hand-pump design that permits for immediate operation in environments with out entry to electrical energy.
ROAMfilter Plus can also be outfitted with versatile energy sources in thoughts, and will be pushed by a gravity-fed water provide, by bicycle energy, and even with an electrical pump to supply clear water on demand. It lasts two years with easy upkeep.
A collective effort for max social affect
Wateroam’s preliminary aim was to serve a number of villagers and communities with clear water. These embody neighborhood or non secular centres that they’ve recognized by associates or volunteering companies.
Since its inception, its modern resolution has been capable of profit greater than 200,000 folks throughout 38 international locations together with communities in Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines, Nepal, and Myanmar.
Chong Tee continues to work straight with native communities and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to handle water improvement tasks. With years below his belt within the humanitarian area, he realises that the triad of sectors – personal, public and non-profit sectors – are tightly interconnected. This additional enforces him to realize a better understanding of the three events in an effort to create most social affect.
Though Wateroam’s principal focus lies within the humanitarian, social, and family areas, the crew is working carefully with trade companions to supply wants in business areas.
Domestically, the crew recurrently visits faculties, universities, and companies to supply insights regarding creating social entrepreneurship fashions and cultivating a tradition of innovation. Wateroam additionally actively engages in panel classes and talks, actively collaborating in workshop and mentorship programmes to information and nurture the youthful social entrepreneurship enterprises throughout ASEAN.
Turning into a Water Warrior
“The aim is to boost our literacy within the sustainable use of water. Our work with varied companions allowed us to see a rise within the want for easy and reasonably priced water filters for city properties, particularly within the peri-urban areas. There’s additionally an urge for food for moral consumerism, the place folks wish to assist social enterprises which can be simply not offering prime quality options on the expense of individuals and the atmosphere,” Chong Tee explains.
These discoveries have spurred the crew to develop easy and reasonably priced residence filters that may present clear, drinkable water while partaking clients to do good by their purchases. Engaged on a ‘Purchase one, present one subscription’ mannequin, every buy helps a toddler with a yr of unpolluted drinkable water.
Chong Tee dives into Wateroam’s present ongoing efforts to assist the scenario in Myanmar.
“We’re fund-raising for Secure Water and our native companions to supply speedy reduction for greater than 68,000 refugees with emergency water filters, complimentary WASH kits, containers, disinfectants, and PPEs.”
The refugee populations are probably the most weak. These dwelling amongst the inter-ethnic battle -particularly these of the Karen State- have a number of the worst well being outcomes within the area. The consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic has left the folks of Myanmar in pressing want of protected and clear ingesting water.
He’s hoping the reduction gadgets will present clear ingesting water and forestall the unfold of ailments amongst the internally-displaced personnel (IDPs), particularly throughout a time the place ailments and water-borne diseases are rampant.
Any proceeds raised will go into the hiring of native indigenous coordinators who will assist to distribute the filters, prepare and educate the native inhabitants, and conduct monitoring and information assortment work.
“Our crew communicates with native populations in want and assesses their scenario on a case-by-case foundation. We consider that once we come collectively, we will actually make a constructive international affect. Each contribution takes us one other step nearer in direction of a world with clear water for all.”
Featured Picture Credit score: Wateroam
