This is the ABQ Business Podcast with your host Jason Rigby. Each week we interview leading business leaders to inspire the vision and the spirit that is in every entrepreneur. We discuss strengths, weakness, strategies, systems and the problems we can all solve together to fulfill a shared vision of a new future for Small Business.

Amazing Inventor Rodney Herrington from Albuquerque. He owns multiple Businesses and is solving a world problem!!! Clean Water! 

Aqua Research LLC develops innovative water treatment technologies that meet the extreme needs within developing countries and provides sustainable water purification to outdoor enthusiasts, travelers, emergency preppers, first responders, Peace Corps, and the military.

Why We Need Sustainable Water Purification Solutions

The H2gO Purifier was designed for hikers and campers, travelers, missionaries, Peace Corps volunteers, first responders, disaster relief, and emergency kits. However, our ultimate dream is to provide cost-effective and sustainable water treatment to the people who need it most – those with no access to safe water. Our goal is to help reduce the devastating impact of unsafe water, both physical and financial:

• 3.3 million people die each year from water-related health problems. [1]
• Half the hospital beds in the poorest countries are filled with patients with water-related diseases. [2]
• Women in developing countries walk an average of 3.7 miles to get water, then often carry 50 lbs or more of water on their backs. [1]
• Poor people living in the slums often pay 5-10 times more for water than wealthy people living in the same city. [3]

H2gO is a truly sustainable option for emerging countries, offering no maintenance cost or resupply logistics. The purifier costs $0.50 per YEAR for salt to operate and provide a family 40 liters (10 gallons) of safe water per DAY. It uses a rechargeable cell phone type battery for power and can be recharged by the onboard solar panel or micro USB port – re-charged by just about any cell phone charger, but comes with its own charger. The device is available via retail outlets for about $120 but we discount to qualified non-government organizations (NGOs) to less than $50.

Our STREAM system is designed to treat up to 240,000 liters (60,000 gallons per day) for hospitals, orphanages, schools, and small communities in both normal and disaster settings. The STREAM operates on a variety of power sources including 110/220 VAC, and 12 volts DC from a car battery or solar panel. The unit is very robust and comes in a hard plastic waterproof case about the size of a briefcase. Videos of the device are shown on our videos page.

By being part of the solution to provide safe water to families in developing nations, we can help people around the world realize their potential: [4]

Household water disinfection is the best way to reduce diarrhea and can pay back up to $60 for every $1 invested.

Access to safe drinking water and sanitation worldwide would save health agencies $14 billion per year and individuals $680 million.

There would be 640 million more productive working days per year, 544 million more school attendance days, and 3 billion more healthy days for children under 5, together representing productivity gains of $19.8 billion a year.

References:

1“Water: Our Thirsty World,” National Geographic, April 2010.

2“For Want of a Drink: A special report on water,” The Economist, May 22, 2010.

3 Water Facts,” water.org. http://water.org/learn-about-the-water-crisis/facts

4 “Water for Life – Making It Happen,” WHO and UNICEF, 2005.

This is the ABQ Business Podcast with your host Jason Rigby. Each week we interview leading business leaders to inspire the vision and the spirit that is in every entrepreneur. We discuss strengths, weakness, strategies, systems and the problems we can all solve together to fulfill a shared vision of a new future for Small Business.