With headquarters in San Francisco, and team members across the United States and beyond, ARTÉMIA is particularly concerned about the ever-increasing threat of water scarcity.

The World Economic Forum reports that water scarcity is among the top five global risks currently affecting people’s wellbeing. The reliability of sources like rainfall, snowmelt, river runoff and groundwater – and their accessibility – are being negatively affected by climate change, with resources diminishing if not disappearing as demand increases.

In regions facing this growing problem, the availability of dependable drinking water sources is a critical challenge to their sustainability and stability, as well as a potential cause of unrest and conflict, says UN – Water. And according to a recent paper by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, the issue of water scarcity is also affecting traditional seasonal human migration routes.

The latest published information on access to clean water published in 2021 by WHO and UNICEF show that more than 1.6 billion people around the world do not have safely managed drinking water services, 2.8 billion people do not have safely managed sanitation services, and 1.9 billion lack basic handwashing facilities. More sobering is that over three million people die each year due to preventable waterborne diseases, and nearly a million of those are children.

If left unchecked, and new approaches to water sourcing and management aren’t made, these problems will only become worse as the effects of climate change on water intensify. It is clear that much needs to be done – and that there is much room for innovation.

Harnessing unconventional water resources and enabling access to safe drinking water – and developing technology-based solutions to do so – will bolster the resilience of these communities and save lives. Many social entrepreneurs are taking on the challenge to identify, develop, and promote such solutions that are environmentally feasible and economically viable. Here are a few of them.

Aqualuz, Anna Luísa Beserra / Safe Drinking Water for All

When she was 15 years old, Anna Luísa Beserra developed a product known as Aqualuz, a solar water disinfection filtering system, and launched a social entrepreneurship around the product called Safe Drinking Water for All (SDW). Her business aims to bring water to some of the driest areas of Brazil.

SDW works with projects focused on sanitation for rural areas, where companies invest in surrounding communities. SDW leverages the potential socio-environmental impact of companies with high Social Return on Investment projects and international recognition, not only enabling Aqualuz to be implemented without charge to the end-users, but also ensuring her company has the funding to continue the development of this and other applications of the technology Beserra has created.

SaWa, 4Life Solutions 

Danish startup 4Life Solutions provides safe & affordable drinking water for low-income communities. SaWa, the startup’s product, is a bag that holds up to 4 liters of water and uses ultraviolet (UV) rays and heat from the sun to kill microorganisms in water using a purifications process called SODIS, solar water disinfection. After being exposed to the sun for 4 hours, the water is safe to drink. This solution is significantly cheaper than using charcoal and reduces carbon emissions as well.

The company is currently focusing on developing their product to be effective in water with high turbidity, or lack of clarity due to the presence of undissolved solids which would reduce the efficacy of SODIS technology so that every person with a SaWa can enjoy safe drinking water, no matter the quality of the water they can access.

Hilico 

Israeli startup Hilico has developed a portable and lightweight rainwater harvesting system. The startup’s system takes just a couple of minutes to install and fits into the smallest spaces. Uses advanced filtration, it provides safe drinking water and prevents any debris from contaminating collected water. The system is designed to offer off-grid solutions for water self-sufficiency. The startup is currently seeking funding to fully launch.

Tethys, Gitanjali Rao 

Gitanjali Rao won the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge in 2017 when she was 11 for her invention Tethys, a device based on carbon nanotubes that sends water quality information via Bluetooth. She was awarded the Environmental Protection Agency President’s Environmental Youth Award in 2018.

Are you interested in learning more about water sustainability for you and your company? Or are you working on a solution to address water scarcity and access? Please tell us about it! Call (415) 351-2227 or email service@artemia.com.

If you enjoyed this blog, you might also like our series on corporate water efficiency – read parts one, two, three, four, five and six. 

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