Helioz
Helioz
Making use of green technology for safe drinking water in East Africa.
BCTA MEMBERSHIP STATUS
Alumni
SECTOR
Water, Sanitation & Waste Management
HEADQUARTERS
Austria
REGION OF INITIATIVE
Asia & Pacific, Africa
SDG CONTRIBUTION
RELATED NEWS
Clean energy company Helioz has joined Business Call to Action (BCtA) in September 2017 with a commitment to provide clean drinking water to 2 million people every day by 2025 with WADI, its solar powered UV-measurement device that indicates when the process of solar water disinfection (SODIS) is completed and the water safe to drink. By that same year, the company aims to save 500,000 tons of CO2 emissions while reducing deforestation and respiratory diseases.
For millions in rural East Africa, accessing clean water is a serious challenge. Many water sources are highly polluted and there is little infrastructure to carry clean water to rural areas. As a result, water-borne diseases are among the leading causes of death – especially among children. Women and young girls, who are most often responsible for accessing and carrying fresh water, are prevented from attending school or working since much of time is spent walking miles for water each day.
Helioz was founded in 2010 to tackle these challenges by providing access to clean and safe drinking water through innovative solar-powered disinfection solutions. Its inclusive business model was developed by founder and CEO Martin Wesian after he caught cholera from drinking contaminated water. He sought to develop a means of water disinfection that could be utilized even in the remotest areas by relying on renewable energy.
After reading about the solar water disinfection (SODIS) and contacting leading scientists on the matter in Zurich, Mr. Wesian realized the need for an accompanying device that would let users know when disinfection was complete. To do so, he acquired a Master’s Degree in industrial engineering – his thesis was on the measurement device he developed, which he named WADI (for WAter DIsinfection). WADI reinforces the SODIS water disinfection process by indicating when the water is safe to drink.
With SODIS, the time needed for the sun’s UV radiation to disinfect water can vary from a few hours to more than a day, depending on weather, season and geographic location. WADI was developed to account for this variability: placed next to bottles filled with contaminated water, it serves as an indicator of disinfection by measuring the radiation. Neither the disinfection method SODIS nor WADI device need batteries, filters or chemicals, or emits CO2.
Together, these products have benefitted 100,000 people in Uganda alone. A 2010 article in the Journal of Water and Health reported that in slum areas of Yaounde, Cameroon, diarrhoea prevalence dropped from more than 34 percent among children to 18 percent after introducing SODIS. In addition, the products’ use reduces the need for wood fires to boil water – one of the 10 biggest producers of CO2 emissions. In the process, they are reducing deforestation and the incidence of respiratory diseases.