One billion potential buyers - all with little money

The company Pure H20 has its sights set on selling small water purification systems in developing countries. In order to promote sales, the company has had to spell out the possibilities for loans or support.

According to the UN, a person needs between 20 and 50 litres of clean water a day. One in six people in the world does not have access to that quantity.

This has major humanitarian consequences. Among other things, poor hygiene is the cause of several serious and fatal illnesses. At a global level, diarrhoea is the most widespread cause of death – 88 per cent of all diarrhoea-related deaths are due to a lack of clean water.

Watch a film about Pure H2O

1000 litres of clean drinking water costs 1 €
In an attempt to bring clean water to the most poverty-stricken areas, Pure H2O has developed Bluebox 1200, a mobile water purification system. The system takes up 1 cubic metre, weighs 200 kg and can supply 1,200 litres of clean water an hour – enough to cover the daily needs of a village with 1,000 inhabitants. 1000 litres of clean drinking water costs as little as 1€. It works by water from a river or lake being cleaned through four filters. The machine requires power and costs around EUR 16,100.

With a potential market of some one billion people, the possibilities for Pure H20 are enormous. But selling Bluebox 1200 in developing countries has not been without its problems for the company. Today, developing countries account for just 20 per cent of sales. Most of the turnover comes from the emergency services and the military.

A lengthy process before signing on the dotted line
Pure H2O's experience from visits to developing countries shows that the distance from glowing interest to signed contracts is, in practice, long. And it has often been difficult to establish who actually has the power to approve the purchase of Bluebox 1200 in the political system of the developing countries.
Pure H2O has also, in many cases, found to its cost that it is not enough for the company to supply a technical solution. It also has to provide funding through DANIDA, the World Bank or Asian Development Bank etc.

In spite of these difficulties, Pure H20 has not given up. The next few years will see increased focus on sales in developing countries, and Pure H2O will focus on reducing the price of the water purification system.

Recently a solar-powered mobile waterpurification system was developed: 8,000 -12,000 liters of pure and safe drinking water per day - powered by the sun only. The two systems will be shipped to a refugee camp in Chad and will be operated by Unicef staff.

In addition the company is currently developing solar collectors that can be shipped in containers anywhere in the world and put up by the locals. This way power used for water purification can be produced by means of the sun.
What is special about these Power Packs is that the solar cells turn towards the sun so the amount of electric current produced is increased by 30 per cent.