Let there be water: Sotrad water treatment

In South Africa’s Bloemfontein region, children in rural areas have little, if any, access to clean, safe drinking water. The region’s capital, known as the City of Roses, suggests lush, fertile land, but outside the suburbs, the terrain is dominated by dry grassland. Families must walk miles every day to source water and even then they risk potentially fatal disease.

It’s a situation repeated across the continent and the developing world. More than 4.5 million children die each year due to poor water quality and half of the beds in developing countries’ hospitals are occupied by patients with water-borne diseases. About 40 billion hours are spent on simply collecting water in sub-Saharan Africa; the equivalent of a year’s labour for the workforce of France.

Aside from the obvious humanitarian obligation to improve the lives of vulnerable citizens, there is the obvious, if less publicised, economic benefit: a dollar invested in providing clean water can lead to 34 times higher return in economic growth as fewer workers get sick and less time is wasted traipsing to the nearest well.

Thousands of miles from Bloemfontein in Waterloo, water treatment company Sotrad Water has been developing systems to make life easier and safer for these citizens. Now, 50 schools in the region of Bloemfontein have installed its water pump, as have a mining base camp in Niger, the remote village of Lovisa Kope in Togo and a Congo poultry farm to name but a few.

‘We have to do something’

A band of entrepreneurs who had spent many years working in sub-Saharan Africa were already operating the trading company Sotrad, which specialised in IT, healthcare and furniture. They knew from experience that water treatment plants were not affordable for small cities and rural populations. “We said we have to do something,” says finance director Georges Hanin. Sotrad Water was born in 2009 and, partnered with the University of Liège’s cholera research unit, developed units which, rather than treating water with chemicals, pumps the water through a fine membrane, ridding it of the microbes that cause devastating diseases such as cholera. The systems are effective, easy to use and require few spare parts.

Water treated by this process of ultra-filtration, which removes and separates particles of 0.01 micrograms, also conforms to World Health Organisation norms for drinking water and, in the case of aerobic germs, exceeds them.

There is nothing new about the technology. “It’s just the fact that it’s safe and on a size that is affordable for these small villages,” says Hanin. But using a filter rather than chemicals is a key advantage. “For rural populations, it’s a problem to need chemicals - sometimes they have the money for them; sometimes not.”

The system, known as Pump & Drink, is not free, with the solar-powered version costing up to €15,000. But, according to Hanin, although this is a lot of money for, say, a small village, buyers of Sotrad’s systems will benefit in the long run. “They spend a lot of money on chemicals and on medicines for the diseases from the water.”

While Sotrad’s directors are motivated by the humanitarian need, they have spotted a clear business opportunity. “What we have done is to put a value on the water. There is a business model behind this machine.”

International recognition

Partnerships with international organisations such as Red Cross and Medecins Sans Frontières are already proof of Sotrad’s global recognition. Now, the company is set to gain publicity thanks to its invitation to participate in the World Water Forum earlier this year in Marseille where its Pump & Drink Solar, powered by the plentiful African sun, was eligible for a prize. “We are, of course, proud to have been selected,” says Hanin.

Back in Waterloo, the company, which is in its third year of operation, is working on how it can reduce the price of Pump & Drink and also show financial institutions the benefit of offering project finance to organisations to provide access to yet more of the world’s water-poor citizens.

“We do hope that the competition for the prize will force us to continue with our research and development to make sure we can reduce the price,” says Hanin. “It is not only enough to be among the best; we must make it affordable.”

The facts

• Established: 2009
• Headquarters: Waterloo
• Workshop: Bilstain, near Verviers
• Product: Six types of water treatment units
• www.sotradwater.be

 
This article first appeared in WAB magazine