Ilaria Rosella Pagliaro Filtralife is the innovative and autonomous answer for access to drinking water in the most disadvantaged regions: this system guarantees up to 1300 liters of clean water every hour, without the use of electricity or batteries
©FiltraLife
In a world where unmet needs for access to clean drinking water stand as the priority, the UNICEF 2024 data is no better than gloomy: it is estimated that 7 million people die every year due to waterborne diseases, including at least 2 million children under five years of age. Water in the more industrialized countries may be taken almost for granted, but this is a far cry from the situation in many other parts of the world. In countries like Ethiopia, a mere 30 percent have access to safe sources of water.
It’s within this perspective that Filtralife, a French innovation, has emerged: winning the gold medal at Lépine Competition 2024. Invented by a father-son duo, Paul and Auguste Minot, the technology is capable of making 343 gallons of water drinkable per hour without the use of electricity or batteries. Here’s how this device could change access to water for places with no infrastructure.
Filtralife was born from the idea of solution enthusiast engineer Paul Minot, who liked low-impact solutions. Developed with his son, Auguste, it is a medium-sized device able to perform all functions independently, with a tank for untreated water. After being filled, water circulates through several filters including an ultra-fine filter that takes care of bacteria, viruses, heavy metals, and pesticides and retains all minerals useful and healthy for human beings.
Filtralife merges the two advanced technologies of nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, yielding completely free-of-impurities, odorless, colorless water with no chemical use. Bernard Legube, an emeritus professor from the University of Poitiers who tested the system on Marne River water, got excellent results. Of the contaminants it removed, glyphosate was reduced by far lower than the regulatory limits.
A global potential beyond local communities
This is not a single community setup, the potential of Filtralife far exceeds this. It is ideal to be employed by NGOs, governments, and international organizations, especially in very vulnerable areas. Such a device could also be a lifeline in disasters caused by nature-as in the case of recent floods in Spain-prove that, with pointed, accessible technologies, we can provide a real solution for the challenges of securing clean drinking water.
Source: Filtralife-solution.com
