The Problem and why it is important for society
Clean drinking water is essential for life on earth. We used to be able to take it for granted, but the agriculture and industrial revolutions polluted much of the fresh water sources around the planet. In Europe and North America most governments have taken action to prevent further pollution from happening and clean up contaminated water sources.
Nevertheless, many parts of the water infrastructure are outdated and updates are often only due on the basis of economic decision making. In general, investment in water infrasructure is not keeping pace with the challenges the EU is facing, such as the growing population, urbanisation and climate change. To cope with these challenges, the EU needs to double the sector’s annual investment of €45 Billion in order to modernise our infrastructure and protect health, the environment and reduce costs, while good water infrastructure safeguards supply, protects the environment and saves money for all in the long term.
Furthermore, not all drinking water issues though can be tackled by municipalities and water providers: many relate to pipes, leakage and contamination in private buildings and houses. Pipes get replaced over time but for instance houses built in the 1970s will not have their pipes replaced until the 2040-2070s based on standard replacement cycles. This implies that heavy metals, including lead, arsenic and tin, as well as other contaminants continue to become a serious risk for many homes and families for the foreseeable future.
Another issue is the measurement and collection of high quality data at a reasonable price. New, more accurate analytical techniques are developed continuously. Therefore, water quality can be measured highly accurately. But, it is still virtually impossible and way too elaborate and expensive to monitor tap water quality on a regular basis from multiple households. As a result, only scarce quality data is available on the consumers’ end of the tap.
As a result, people all over the world have started to drink bottled water, which ensures them a high quality of water and pure flavour.
In 2016, 480 Billion plastic bottles were sold which corresponds to about 1 Million bottles per minute, which is expected to grow with another 20% until 2021. This comes at a price however: plastic waste creates a high pressure on the environment and natural cycles, since plastic bottles are produced from non-degradable materials (mostly PET) and contain various toxic and carcinogenic substances, such as BPA and phthalates. In addition to this microplastics everywhere in nature is a rapidly growing problem.
Overall objectives and goals
For now, our short term goal is to lower the environmental impact of clean drinking water and replace at least 1 Billion bottles by 2020 by empowering people to easily get clean and healthy water from tap. Our long term goal is to replace other less sustainable water filtration solutions and the need for bottled water, eliminating at least 10 Billion bottles by 2023.
Our overall project objectives are the final development, integration and optimisation of the mini-sensors in the design of a user-friendly and robust water filter to prepare it for commercial launch.
