Recap: Swiss Cleanwater Group at "Planning for the future: how to use our water resources more efficiently"

Sustainable Water Treatment by Swiss Cleanwater Group

Kim Weis Hansen, CEO Swiss Cleanwater Group
15 January 2013

Swiss Cleanwater Group contributed with the more technological approach towards a solution that could help provide millions with clean drinking water, whilst not needing vast amounts of chemicals or energy.

From the previous presentations at the seminar, it was clear that solutions such as desalination and reverse osmosis were frequently used, not by free will, but more because of lacking alternatives.

Kim Weis Hansen, CEO. Photos: Hasse Ferrold

Below you can see the slides of the time-limited 15 minute presentation:

We cannot survive without water... food we can do without for a couple of weeks, but water is something we must have.

There are no substitutes for water, you cannot switch water with cola or something different. Water is a resource.

Its not only us humans that need QUALITY water - its also so many other things that make everything in a world function.

We have less and less access to clean drinking water due to all types of water pollution.

If this is the total water supply....

Then less than this droplet is what we can drink.

...and these factors are just an eye-opener to why water problems are becoming bigger.

In our area in San Diego, the water prices have risen by 65%!!! We should think we were dealing with oil...

Other water treatment uses too many chemicals and too much energy.

Here are some of the common systems on the market that are used for water treatment.

We wanted to create a solution that could fill the gap of an environmentally friendly solution.

Output-wise this is where we would place the Swiss Cleanwater Machine.

These are just some of the benefits of Swiss Cleanwater Machines - see all here:
http://www.swiss-cleanwater-group.com/en/the-scg-advantage.html

A quick overview of one of the three available machines.

This is what our core competency is.

One of our NGO cases from Ethiopia

A mobile water treatment case from Germany. See here for Mobile Water Treatment.

Its a global challenge we all need to face.

This is one of our patented water kiosks.

...perfect for disaster water treatment, and can be powered by solar power.

Remember the name ;-) we are here to stay...

You want to know more or find out how you can get clean water?

The objective of the presentation was to show the various stakeholders present that it is possible to provide clean drinking water, through a new way of treating water.

The presentation did not go into technical details as this was not the right audience for that, if you are looking for a deeper explanation of how a Swiss Cleanwater Machine works, then you can read about it here: http://www.swiss-cleanwater-group.com/en/purification-of-water.html

You can also see a short video clip explanation on that page.

Good Water Hunting

How can the message effectively be spread? Today there are many attempts at spreading the news about the rising global water crisis, but people taking water for granted rarely pay attention. Social media is often thought of as a great medium for spreading messages, but without any apparent kickback value for the user, your message will not gain any snowball effect. We continue to spread the word about clean water treatment solutions, but it seems no one is willing to listen, why should they if it does not affect them? Before Christmas we even hosted a competition asking people to participate in a quiz, and the winner would be able to make a donation on behalf of the company to the third world. In the end, a water catastrophe pack was donated to India. Only about 3-5% of our "following" participated even considering that their actions could benefit people who needed the help.

Fortunately, there are some passionate people out there with a bigger voice. Today, people with far reach, due to their popularity often promote or spread the word about a good cause. Recently, Matt Damon (who starred in "Good Will Hunting") gave a compelling interview about the water crisis.

See the full interview:


He even describes a water well in Ethiopia where kids are pulling water out that is the same color as chocolate milk. This water is what kids bring to school, and often it can be so dangerous to drink that deaths result from it. According to Water.org, a child dies every 20 seconds from water related diseases - an extremely scary figure.

The video then discusses what has been called WaterCredits which is basically a small loan that lets people without clean water, get a direct source of water into their home instead of having to walk to a well. The loan is often repaid at a high rate, and seems to be the way forward in some of these communities.

It is good to see some of these famous people using their star status to spread goodwill messages rather than just promoting the latest perfume or handbag.

The Global Water Crisis

 

Most of us take water for granted on a daily basis. In the morning we wake up, wash our face, drink a cup of coffee, rinse fresh fruit, clean our dirty dishes, take a shower, brush our teeth and on some occasions we remember to drink a part of our daily recommendation of 2.5 Liters of water. We have not been awake for more than a couple of hours, and already we have completed some of our everyday tasks that we take for granted.

See: 11 million people without access to clean water in Mexico

Unfortunately, this scenario cannot be shared by everyone. Today there are over 880 million people lacking access to clean, healthy drinking water. That is roughly 1 out of every 8 people on the planet. An astonishing number, which will only increase as we continue to place heavy demands on our depleting planet. The increased industrial activity of the BRIC countries has not only increased the amount of pollution that our environment must deal with, but it also increases demand of its' people on the local water resources.

See also this article: Global Water Crisis

This increasing global challenge of providing clean, healthy drinking water is becoming a more pressing matter. Something needs to be done.

Fortunately, there are some technologies out there that will help future generations get access to clean water. Something we will look closer at in the coming days.