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With clean water available just by a turn of a tap, it’s often taken for granted, but the World Health Organisation estimates that for 1,9 billion people around the world, the lack of clean water is an everyday challenge. Contaminated water causes disease and suffering, but unfortunately, when boiling the water to purify it, there are serious side effects from an environmental and health perspective as well. However, these problems can be tackled right at the source. At Swegon we are proud supporters of an initiative built on an ingenious invention – the Solvatten solar powered water purifier.
In many places around the world, acquiring clean water for drinking, cooking and cleaning is a major challenge. Even if water happens to be readily available, it may be contaminated, which either leads to disease among the local population, or it requires the water to be boiled before use. The boiling in turn creates other problems – since kitchen equipment often consists of very basic wood fired stoves, the demand for firewood leads to deforestation, and with the stoves being placed indoors, it causes highly polluted indoor environments. The health problems associated with lack of clean water are therefore not limited to the direct effects caused by bacteria in the water, but there are also serious long term effects, caused by inhaling smoke and fumes.
For a number of years, Swegon has supported the Solvatten initiative – contributing with an annual Christmas donation per employee – in cooperation with our owners, the Swedish investment company Investment AB Latour. The basis for the Solvatten initiative (“Solvatten” being a Swedish portmanteau of “sun” and “water”) is the ingenious invention of a very special water canister acting both as water purifier and water heater, powered only by sunshine. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s cleverly designed to be sturdy and simple to use, not requiring electricity or chemicals to operate.
Solvatten units have been proven extremely useful in, for instance, rural parts of Central Africa, where water treatment infrastructure as well as healthcare is often scarce, but there is plenty of sunshine. Families receiving a Solvatten canister not only get a simple way to purify water, they no longer have the same need for firewood used to boil water. This has positive effects on many levels – for instance, the firewood needed is often collected by children or bought for hard earned money, and with less need for wood, time and money is freed up for attending school. With less wood used, there is also less local deforestation, and less carbon dioxide emissions. And with less need for using the wood fired stoves, the indoor climate is also improved significantly, reducing problems such as pulmonary diseases and eye infections.
The Solvatten solution is something completely different compared to our daily business at Swegon within heating, ventilation and air conditioning. But the quest for healthy indoor climate and reduced carbon footprint we have in common, and the initiative have a place extra close to our hearts - it’s just another way to contribute to our company credo of “feel good inside”.
