Existing Solutions

WADI, Solar Water Disinfection, global health, HWTS

technical

The WADI device is a sustainable and cost-efficient tool, which helps to trace the progress of solar water disinfection in a PET bottle by detecting and calculating the relevant UV-rays of the sun, indicated by a status bar and smiley face. With its built-in solar panel, WADI is energy-self-sufficient and needs neither spare part replacement nor maintenance for at least five years (guaranteed) – At the cost of less than 10 dollars per piece. WADI is made of recyclable plastic, in line with “cradle-to-cradle design”.

The concept of solar water disinfection is suitable for daily usage and the handling of WADI is easy: Just put the WADI tool on a water filled PET bottle like a screw cap, place both into the sun and wait. A progress bar indicates duration and as soon as the display shows a smiley face, the water is drinkable.

The WADI device is based on the SODIS method, a method for disinfecting water using only sunlight and transparent PET bottles.

SODIS recommends a disinfection time of minimum 6 hours, but in fact it can take only 30 to 40 minutes under bright sky and relative intense sun (verified at IMS Bhubaneswar/India). This differing time duration results in a relative imprecise handling of solar disinfection – you never know when the water is ready for drinking purposes. WADI makes the process calculable and visual for the users and therefore encourages adoption, usability and acceptance of the SODIS method. Internationally understandable pictograms on the device facilitate correct usage.

WADI has an integrated cotton filter, which gets rid of coarse particles and is easily exchangeable by the users themselves using any cloth material. The device can thus deliver certain improvements in water aesthetics and provides SODIS with aspirational appeal. In addition, a cone-shaped opening hole integrated into the device will facilitate to fill water into the PET bottles and protects the stored water from recontamination.

The WADI device was developed for low-income households, especially for the Base of the Pyramid (BoP), the poorest socio-economic faction of the respective countries. WADI will come in use in all areas where waterborne diseases are common. Especially children under the age of five constitute a particular priority, since diarrhoea is the second leading cause of death among children.

Helioz R&D is responsible for the research and development of the device. The core purpose of this social enterprise is to provide affordable and efficient tools for low-income households, humanitarian organizations, emergency aid organizations and socially affiliated companies around the globe.

Strategic partners and actors for the implementation of WADI are governmental health and development institutions, local and international organizations as well as for-profit companies and universities and other research bodies. Partnering with NGOs and other non-profit grassroots community associations is necessary for awareness building, knowledge sharing and behaviour change communication on a local level.

The production of WADIs in India has already started. Between April and July 2011 Helioz conducted a government co-funded feasibility study for WADI in several Indian districts. The next steps include a health intervention study in Odisha/India. The overall objective of WADI is to improve health standards and reduce death rates and infant mortality caused by waterborne diseases by facilitating access to safe water in low-income households. The expected outcome of our health intervention in Odisha is a reduction of waterborne diseases of 60 to 80%. The impact evaluation is necessary to verify large-scale health efficacy under real-life conditions and for high-quality data acquirement prior to WADI mass distribution. Until now, there are requests from over 25 countries worldwide from potential distributors.

The whole study, including health impacts and microbiological testing will be elaborated in a dissertation at the Medical University Vienna, Public Health department. Additionally several accompanying articles will be published in scientific journals.

1. How to improve point-of-use access to clean potable water and reduce health care expenditures, respectively waterborne diseases for low-income households with at least one child under the age of five?

We want to provide low-income households with a sustainable, affordable and easy-to use household water treatment tool to satisfy their daily drinking water needs. The WADI device is specifically adapted to these needs; it facilitates the consumption of safe and clean water in an efficient and affordable way. WADI requires no spare part replacement, no maintenance, no electricity and no water-tap. It is easy to use for various target groups in geographically different settings.

Multiple interventions with low-income households in developing countries have demonstrated the health benefits of correct and consistent use of household water treatment solutions. But lack of appropriate, affordable, and effective water treatment products designed for these settings, limits the potential benefits. WADI was specifically designed to address this gap and meet the unique needs of the global BoP.

With regular usage of WADI we expect a substantial reduction of diarrheal diseases: by using WADI along with training in water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) we seek to reduce the health risk by up to 60 to 80%.

Overall, cost-efficiency is guaranteed by the exceptionally low TCO (total cost of ownership) of the device itself whereas scaling for millions of people is ensured by WaSH awareness campaigns via networks of local/international NGOs and community opinion leaders and through the provision of a convincing point-of-use solution.

There are different important success factors for BoP products, like value for money, innovation and hybrid solutions, sustainability and environmental friendliness, functionality and accompanying education and training. Beside these factors, Helioz is facing the biggest challenge on the awareness and communication front. There must be a huge effort on education and training before and during the distribution of WADI, the target customers have to be aware of the problems of waterborne diseases and the importance of water disinfection. Awareness building and behavior change communication can be addressed through interactive theatre, street shows, live demonstrations, role plays, group discussion etc. Therefore it is essential for us to integrate several actors in a sustainable supply chain model. The involvement of opinion leaders, governmental institutions and local NGOs and communities is crucial for credibility and awareness building.

Other key indicators include the daily use of the WADI device, hygiene behavior, health status and the willingness to pay for water treatment solutions.

The concern of access to clean potable water and the combat against waterborne diseases is a topic that concerns all of us. Reduction of waterborne diseases especially among children in developing countries is a key factor for the world’s future development.

Most of the world`s people and the great majority of the world`s poor live in rural and slum areas of the global South. For this people, access to water is usually inadequate to sustain health and livelihood. This causes a number of diseases like diarrhea, cholera and typhoid fever. According to the UN, 80% of all diseases occurring in developing countries derive from insufficient or contaminated drinking water. Over 50% of all hospital beds in affected areas are occupied by patients who suffer from diseases caused by contamination. Therefore our main target groups are people living in developing countries, especially people living in rural and slum areas. Differences in access to water create inequality and poverty. The water security for the rich and the poor as well as women and men, varies significantly. Women and children are usually responsible for procuring water. With WADI we will strengthen overall point-of-use water treatment and create awareness for the connection of water, health and development. At the moment WADI would be the cheapest available point-of-use water treatment solution for low-income households in India. WADI is not only meant to be a life-saving tool which satisfies human basic needs but also a lifestyle product which brings easy and inexpensive water disinfection to low-income households. Water, health and development are directly linked and interconnected. Therefore also governments should be interested in an alternative solution for water treatment at the point-of-use, as a supplement of their governmental actions in the public water sector. India faces a range of problems in matters of quality, access and distribution of drinking water. Groundwater is the most important source of water for drinking, irrigation and industrial uses. The groundwater is often contaminated with fluoride, chlorides or microbiological contaminants, which leads to a range of different waterborne diseases, like cholera or diarrhea. The Indian government spends 2% of its GDP (30 billion dollar a year) treating diarrhea, a totally preventable and treatable disease. WADI together hygiene training and, if possible, with the provision of sanitary facilities could mitigate these risks substantially. The development of the WADI device is inspired by the SODIS method. The CEO and founder of Helioz R&D got sick of cholera in Venezuela. While learning about the SODIS method and the difficulties of diffusing the water disinfection method, he started conceptualizing his idea and planned the creation of a social business dedicated to water quality management for the Base of the Pyramid. Martin Wesian approached the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich in 2008 and proposed a gadget to make solar disinfection easy to understand, easy to handle and safe for application. During the planning phase of WADI, Martin Wesian was in close contact with Mr. Martin Wegelin from the EAWAG/SODIS. This was a great inspiration for the development and design of the device.

·      Promotion: advertisement, behavior change and awareness

These are the most important factors in concern of the regular usage of WADI. There must be a huge effort on education and training before and during the distribution of WADI, the target customers have to be aware of the problems of waterborne diseases and the importance of water disinfection. Therefore it is essential for us to integrate several players in a sustainable supply chain model such as governments, NGOs, local community leaders, self-help groups etc.

The minimum investments necessary in order to effectively implement WADI are human and financial resources to enact the planned interventions. As a social enterprise, quick money is not secured and not the goal, so we need to attract social investors and funding from initiatives supporting innovative, ecologically and socioeconomically relevant projects.

 Do`s and dont`s    

• Research of data about the water quality in the respective area

• What are the most common water sources e.g. bore well with hand-pump open dug wells, bottled water?

• Which water storages are used e.g. Clay pots, aluminum vessels or PET-bottles?

• Water consumption

• Which water treatment methods are common in the respective area e.g boiling, chlorine pills, cloth filtering etc?

• Availability of PET-bottles

•  Commitment of the local communities/government/other organizations

• Follow-up of WADI users,which needs to be repeated perpetually to have a sustainable effect.

First and foremost the most important commitments should come from the people we address and try to reach with our WADI treatment tool – low-income households, which do not have an adequate access to their daily potable water. To reach this group we are preparing the health intervention study in Odisha. Further steps include making WADI available on a global scale.

It is also important to have the commitment of the respective local governments, which should provide as much people as possible with clean drinking water. WADI can be seen as an important supplement to these actions. WADI addresses also humanitarian aid organizations such as UNICEF, World Food Program or UNHCR.

We are already in contact with various potential partners all around the world, which could produce, distribute and implement WADI in their respective country. Also, the concept and design of WADI makes production possible all around the world.

Name: Martin Wesian CEO and founder Helioz R&D

Adress: Ruedigergasse 10

Postal Code: 1050 Vienna/Austria/Europe

e-mail: office@helioz.org

phone: +43 1 815 26 24 44

If further information, help or advice about WADI is required, we are always accessible by telephone or e-mail. For written information, we have also set up a homepage under the following links: www.helioz.org and www.waterdisinfection.org. At this website you will find basic information about Helioz and WADI.  You can also find information about WADI at the website of The Association for Human Developments(AHD). It is a non-profit association which helps to spread WADI with allocated charity donations.

We are also part of the social media network facebook and members and followers at Ashoka Changemakers and member of the UN Global Compact and The Gender and Water Alliance.