H20’s first contact with Oxfam UK’s public health division was 3 years ago, at a time when H20 was working on a colloidal silver product for killing bacteria. Oxfam was fully aware of the power of silver to kill bacteria, but had concerns about colloidal silver’s “consumable” nature – especially in remote locations. They wanted something more permanent and longer lasting. Tom Tranfaglia, H20’s president and founding investor, took the concept back to California and in about a year’s time, Solid Form Biocide (SFB) was born. A solid mesh of material with silver plating, SFB could last a long time and kill bacteria on contact.
H20 first proposed “two-bucket” systems to Oxfam, requiring dirty water in the top bucket to flow through several filters, including an SFB cartridge, before emerging clean at the bottom bucket. The concept is used by many others, and Oxfam wanted us to try for a more unique “one-bucket” system. To meet this desire, H20 came up with the SFB pad: a mesh coiled around itself capable of killing bacteria in any bucket or container. Samples were sent to the University of Surrey for testing, and miraculously, they killed bacteria. The especially exciting thing was how well they killed bacteria in containers that were shaken. With this experiment, “Water in Motion” applications for SFB were born.
After this successful test, H20 went back to the drawing board and created a product called Guardian: SFB formed into 5-foot long ropes covered in a specialized cloth, just the right size for stuffing in a Jerrycan*.
*Jerrycans are military-style fuel canisters which are the most widely used water-carrying containers in Africa (over 80 million estimated in use)
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Part II: Oxfam field trial moved to Democratic Republic of Congo
As a follow-on to the previous post, the Guardian has been moving ahead since it’s initial development in late 2009. It has been to several labs, tested for bacteria kill with artificial stirring using a stir-plate at the lab as well as with natural walking. Our very own team members have volunteered their strength (and sweat!) to haul 20-liter jerrycans and buckets around our partner lab in Salinas, CA for as long as 40 minutes at a time. Jokes about no longer needing a gym membership aside, we got better bacteria kill with the natural motion of walking than with artificial stirring of the water.
Oxfam is working with us to begin field trials of Guardian: testing its ability to keep water safe for drinking in a village in rural Africa. Field trials had been planned to start in April/May located in Uganda or Ethiopia. Since then, the trials have been moved to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they will begin late this month or early in July. Guardian ropes are currently on their way to Uvira, DRC, where they will be distributed to families at a local village site. The families’ water will be routinely monitored against other families’ without Guardian continuously for the next six months. We know they will make a huge impact on human health in the DRC – especially in children who are most vulnerable to waterborne disease.