Long time, no see…

Greetings!

While it has been a while since our last (first) blog entry, much has happened and we wanted to update on where we are at the moment. Apart from the normal organising and planning that takes place at the start of any project, we have mainly been working towards the optimisation of the plate settler we are developing.

Our initial data indicated that we weren’t quite there yet in terms of final treated water quality achieved with our prototype. So, to this end, we need to further improve the process. Part of this is due to that fact that some “shortcuts” sometimes must be taken when trying to adapt a conventional full-scale water system for humanitarian applications. This is due to several reasons of which the treatment objectives and practical field implementation considerations play a fundamental role (more to come on these two topics in a later entry).

Anyhow, in practical terms and without boring you too much with the nitty-gritty details of water treatment theory, this meant that we need to revisit some of our preliminary work on the prototype in order to optimise the system. Some aspects of our initial design demonstrated the potential of the system for humanitarian applications. However, we now need to tweak it to achieve the desired levels of treatment as defined by The Sphere Project. So, as with analogue radios (yes, some people still use those!), we’ve found the station, but fine tuning is needed to improve the sound of the received signal

Once this is done, we will move from prototype to the real deal. In order to make this transition, equipped with an optimised system, we will move on to a phase of initial consultations with practitioners. This way, we will get as much feedback from potential end-users during the development of this innovation. From experience, we have noticed that many emergency water treatment kits “fail” probably due to the lack of consultation with end-users. This results in treatment systems that are based on what manufacturers think relief agencies need with little to no consideration on what they really want or on the realities of the resource-limited, variable, “dirty” and human contexts of field work in emergencies (more on this in a future blog entry too).

Cheers! Caetano

Through this blog we will be posting further information on the innovation, timely developments in the sector related to the project, and updates, but if you have specific questions or want more detailed information, please do not hesitate to contact us ([email protected]).