Improving water quality and quantity in emergencies: The Inclined Plate Settler water treatment system

This innovation process in the WASH sector featured a unique partnership between an academic organisation (Université Laval), a humanitarian NGO (Oxfam GB) and a private sector company (AquaPlus Ltd, now Easol Ltd). Together, these partners sought to develop a water treatment system that would increase the supply of water in an emergency at a significantly reduced cost, using technology that field staff can easily operate and maintain.

This case study is one of 15 undertaken by ALNAP in partnership with Elrha’s Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF), exploring the dynamics of successful innovation processes in humanitarian action. The case studies examine what good practice in humanitarian innovation looks like, what approaches and tools organisations have used to innovate in the humanitarian system, what the barriers to innovation are for individual organisations, and how they can be overcome. The case studies are synthesised in the summary report, ‘More than just luck: Innovations in humanitarian action‘.