Interesting private sector solution, distributed technology

I recently started getting Water 21, I think because of the IWA Project Innovation Award that we recently received for our work in Cambodia. More on that soon.

There was a really interesting article in this past issue on a women's cooperative in Tamil Nadu that is using a really innovative private-sector approach to safe water: each of 150 women provided $150 in capital to start the business, which was also supported by a small grant from a government ministry and technical assistance from a local college.

Read another article about the project here.

Hippo Water Roller

While on field work in Venda, South Africa I stumbled upon this Hippo Water Roller, which is a fantastic innovation, as long as you are not dealing with steep terrain. There are even some add-on technologies that use the rolling action of the drum to generate a chemical disinfectant or work a filtration device - still in development. I was quite surprised to find this one in this remote village near the Zimbabwe border.

In general, we need to be paying more attention to water storage options, as water is at serious risk of recontamination at the household level. And in areas where transport is difficult, solutions like these are very much needed. Now if only we can get that price to come down....