Clean Water

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On July 21, 2012, the city of Portland had to shut off its water in seven districts, effecting hundreds of thousands of people including households and businesses. The reservoir in Washington Park that serves the west side of town had tested positive for E. coli and residents were notified promptly to boil their water before using for simple tasks such as brushing their teeth, washing their faces, preparing and cooking their food, and drinking. It was either this or going out and buying bottles of purified water. As Americans, we take advantage of the simplicities and convenience of life so naturally, the west side residents, like a manic herd, grabbed their credit cards and loaded their carts with as much purified water they could manage to carry, clearing shelves from hundreds of stores around the entire city of Portland. Now imagine an entire country with contaminated water....

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India is home to over one billion citizens who all depend on clean water as a means for their livelihood. However, millions are affected by poor quality water : about 38 million are affected by waterborne diseases, and an estimated 1.5 million children die of diarrhea annually. Due to the agricultural and industrial boom, India requires significant amounts of water resources from underground aquifers that have accelerated the onset of present water shortages. In addition to these shortages, industrial wastes from these practices run off into nearby rivers and groundwater, heavily contaminating it with iron, fluoride, arsenic and other dangerously high levels of chemicals. Residents with the means and know-how have built wells to pump fresh groundwater through wells that are free of charge but have drastically reduced the amount of fresh, clean water that is available...faster than the monsoon season can replace it. In addition, human, agricultural, and industrial wastes are polluting India's rivers and seeping into the ground, thus contaminating the groundwater that is now being relied upon by millions as the sole clean water source.

Despite this formidable dilemma, there are people working towards a solution. Anand Shah, CEO of Sarvajal, is working to provide easily accessible water to outlying villages that don't have access to drinkable water. Traditionally, organizations have built machines with grants and government funding, but building machines to process the water at the villages is expensive. Also, because they were only paid to install the machines, no funds would remain to support maintenance and repair, and the machines would stop working after a year or so. Shah and his company came up with the idea to create water ATMs, the idea being that the villagers would pay for water every time they visit the machine, creating revenue and incentive for companies to continue to fix and maintain the machines. The machines filter water from larger villages, providing clean water for use. Previously, villagers would have to wait for hours in line for water from trucks; now, drinkable water is easily accessible for a fee. A big issue that Shah and his team confronted was the inability to check up on the machines to make sure they were working without having to drive and be there physically. Shah solved the problem by installing sensors in the machine and using cloud computing to keep track of the network of machines, so he can tell when a machine goes down or needs to be fixed. This allows companies to perform regular maintenance on machines that need it, and reduces the cost of having to travel to each machine to check it. 

But is this a good long-term solution? Only time will tell. Other companies are coming up with solutions too, but for everyone, there remain several obstacles for a solid long-term solution. By using technology, science, and even by changing traditional methods of accessing water, the problem can be solved. But before that happens, a lot of work still needs to be done.

Group 2X⁵