A Bicycle That Creates Clean Air AND Clean Water!
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island 
on 01.28.08
As part of Specialized and Google's Innovate-or-Die contest, we've seen the bicycle put to some interesting uses, including lawn mowing and powering an MIT supercomputer. Clever as those designs were, however, the Grand Prize went to a team from Menlo Park, California, that invented the Aquaduct, "a pedal powered vehicle that stores, filters and transports water." Much like other innovative water filtration designs, such as the Life Straw, the Clay-Coffee-Manure Filter and the All-Purpose Water Filter, the beauty of the design is in its simplicity and use of materials readily available in developing countries, the target market for this design.
In the above video, the winning team explains that the bicycle "consists of a storage tank, filter, peristaltic pump, clean tank and clutch." Learn how it works after the fold.
The team based their design on the fact that "a family of four needs around 20 gallons of water a day to meet basic needs - drinking, cooking, washing and cleaning." So here's how it works: the person collecting the water rides the bicycle over to the water source, and fills up the 20 gallon tank. As the person pedals back home, "the peristaltic pump draws the water from the storage tank, through a filter to a 2 gallon clean tank. That tank can be removed and taken indoors. When more water is needed, the tank is replaced, the clutch engaged and the person then peddles while remaining stationary."
The Aquaduct is an excellent example of intermediate technology, the term coined by British economist E.F. Schumacher, author of Small is Beautiful: Economics As Though People Mattered, to describe technologies that meet human needs on the local or regional level. In this case, the Aquaduct is meeting one of the most basic needs of all: clean drinking water. As the video explains, "over 1.1 billion people don’t have access to clean water and in excess of 5,000 children die each day due to water related diseases." Meaning that if they find a way to mass-produce their invention in a cost-effective manner, the Aquaduct can add to the plethora of ideas and inventions seeking to solve extreme poverty, disease and famine. (See the Clinton Global Initiative, Design for the other 90%, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and One Laptop Per Child, to name a few)
Via: ::EcoSpace, and Innovate-or-Die
See Also: ::Make A Water Filter From Old Tires, ::Open-Source Bamboo Bike Trailer from Carry Freedom, ::Bamboo Bike by Calfee Design, ::Bike Ideas For a Small Planet: The Sports Episode, ::Survey: What is the Greenest Form of Transportation, ::This Water Purifier is a Real "Life Saver", ::IDEO'S Designs Bridge the Technological Divide, ::Demotech-design for self-reliance: More Joy Per Person, ::Glowstar Solar Lantern and ::Bicimáquinas From Maya Pedal
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Very cool! Any indication of how much this would cost?
how do you come up with these crazy things.
Awesome!
It would be cool if the water compartment was a module that could be detached from the bike. Then the bike could also be used for other transportation purposes.
Great idea.
Just to play devils' advocate here-wouldn't riding a bike through the creek or river bed damage the bottom of the creek/river and/or help to create a muddy mess?
Ive seen much the same principle used on a more basic level on a BBC show called Dragons den. This one though operated by being pulled along the ground, and would appear to be a much more practical and less expensive option.
scik idea which saves energy and money....do they sell these in canada and how much are they
So...what happens if you are a poor farmer in sub-Sahara Africa that happens to be blessed with this innovation, and the filter wears out after a week of use? Do you get on the internet and order a new one?
That is simple a fantastic idea. it is interesting how innovative we are becoming in inventing devices that will help in our day to day lives. More pointedly for under developed areas. There are tons of uses for this type of device. I can see fleets of these types of bikes being available US disaster areas. To help relieve tension on resources while utilities are braught back on line. Very interesting to say the least.