Dalhousie student shares her water purification invention with Africa

A new Halifax-based organization has its sights set on improving the drinking water in several African communities.

Founded by Bedford’s Rachel Brouwer, The Purification Project will be launching a pilot project in Kenya and the Gambia in order to tackle the serious issue of accessible clean drinking water in those regions.

“The Purification Project aims to alleviate clean water accessibility issues in communities in the Global South centred around the use of my novel technology,” explains Brouwer.

In 2016, Brouwer — then only 14-years-old — won a prestigious prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona with her clever invention for water purification using solar pasteurization and everyday materials.

“It had never really occurred to me that not everyone has running water and not everyone can just access water whenever they would like,” recalls Brouwer of how she originally came up with the idea three years prior to create a water purification system for developing countries.

Brouwer would spend six years researching and perfecting her system to make water safe for consumption using plumbing and materials that are readily available in developing countries.

“At the beginning of high school, I was still heavily involved. I was travelling around Canada, engaged in various speaking events and things like that,” admits Brouwer, whose system began being used in developing nations like Uganda. “(But) as I got older, I started to shift my focus into asking questions about why these issues are maintained (and) what allows them to continue to exist.”

For the past two years, Brouwer has been focusing more on obtaining a degree in political science at Dalhousie University. There, she joined a program facilitated by the Atlantic Council for International Collaboration that connected youth from the Maritimes to youth in Africa to address community issues in relation to sustainable development goals.

It was within that program that Brouwer saw a renewed purpose for her water purification system.

“I honestly wasn’t thinking about the water project at all. I was just pretty much interested in learning about some of the other issues that are present in these communities (and) I didn’t even know that water issues would arise,” admits Brouwer, who soon heard about examples of inaccessible clean water in African communities.

“It was after those stories started to come out that I thought it’s incredible to raise awareness and discuss these community issues, but there is also an opportunity to solve some of these things.”

Soon, Brouwer pitched her water purification system to the program facilitators, and quick interest saw a group form to address the problem under the name, The Purification Project.

“This summer, we are hoping to raise money to fund the system so we can get them sent to the Gambia and Kenya,” says Brouwer, who has just launched a GoFundMe campaign in order to raise the revenue needed for the project.

“What I’m excited about is once we get these systems into these communities, not only will they make an impact there — but this should act as a huge stepping stone for this project to be scaled and get this technology into the hands of others.”

Using materials that are readily available in developing countries, Brouwer’s system notably utilizes soybean wax to act as an indicator once water reaches the temperature at which it is safe from bacteria.

“The Purification Project is built on the technology that I had originally designed,” says Brouwer, who is currently collaborating with a local manufacturer to develop the system for implementation on a wider scale across the globe.

“The technology was always in a place to be used,” continues Brouwer.” It’s just that I wasn’t able to make these international connections that are so valuable and difficult to make when you are a youth yourself.”

For more information on The Purification Project, visit the website.