• 884 Million people lack access to safe water (Source: World Health Organization, WHO)
• 1.8 million people die each year due to waterborne diseases of which 1.6 million are children under age 5. These diseases include polio, cholera, E-Coli infections, river blindness and diarrhea. (www.CAWST.org)
• Total economic benefits of reaching the Millennium Development Goals on water amount to $84 billion. These benefits are gained through reduced time off from work and increased school attendance, attributed to a reduction in waterborne illnesses. (Source: WHO)

To help alleviate this crisis, H20 inc. was founded with the mission to improve the overall health and quality of life of millions of people by offering and enabling affordable safe water solutions globally at the household (point-of-use, POU) and community levels.

H20’s patent pending silver-based water purification solution is a break-through technology called Solid Form Biocide (SFB) which makes it possible to create products that satisfy a multitude of use scenarios including water-in-transit, water storage, inline and counter top and water bottles. SFB kills pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, algae and fungi without the need for electricity or the use of chemicals and generates no waste. It may be the most environmentally friendly water purification solution to date. Unlike many existing purification technologies such as activated carbon, sand, and ceramic filters, SFB is long lasting, simple to maintain and inexpensive.

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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.

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)

Nano silver works only on single cell bacteria and acts in 2 ways. It acts as a catalyst for oxidation, denaturating the disulfide bonds, thereby preventing the bacteria from exerting any control on exposure to oxidation reactions. It can also generate reactive oxygen in water which can in turn break down the cell wall membranes of the bacteria in the same way as a strong oxidant (such as hydrogen peroxide). In both mechanisms the silver acts purely as a catalyst and, as such, is in theory long lasting and safe. Although its mechanisms as an antibacterial are well documented, its antiprotozoal and antiviral mechanisms are not well understood.
This research aims to determine the antimicrobial and antiviral efficiency of silver in this new SFP pad application as well as to investigate any effects of its long-term usage.

- University of Surrey, Centre for Environmental Health