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news
Cycloclean.gifCould this bicycle help save millions by giving them clean drinking water?
CycloClean, a bicycle adapted with a pump and filtration system, is being deployed to help provide drinking water in places where it is needed through pedal power, with source water drawn from places such as rivers, ponds, swimming pools and even bathing water, providing the latter is free of bathtub agents.
Designed primarily for emergency use, with bicycles able to get to areas inaccessible to other vehicles, the filter system is attached to the rear rack, and comprises one pre-filter and three additional filters.
A user, powering the pump by turning the pedals, is able to produce six litres of drinking water a minute, which it says is three times the amount of drinking water that a person needs each day.
Made by Japanese company Nippon Basic, the bicycle costs ¥550,000, equivalent to a little more than £4,000. That may seem a hefty tag, but with the manufacturers citing a comment from Unicef that "1,900,000 children a year lose their life due to unclean water," its potential value is, quite literally, priceless.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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4 comments
OK for reasonably developed countries but where is the source of fresh activated charcoal and how is the micro filter purged. Listen at me, Mr Grumpy. Just want to raise the issue that maybe things aren't as simple as a diagram like this illustrates. Unfortunately.
A great idea if the filtartion could be done with materials readily to hand at the site, such as sand for filtration, not sure how you'd do the same job as the charcoal. That's where the brains really need to be applied, a bicycle powered pump is the simple part.
Still a tool like this could have been useful in places hit by natural disaster where there is plentiful polluted water and a need to get it cleaned up.
There was a british invention a few years ago where a child's roundabout drew water from a well so the kids got to play and got fresh water. Obvious benefit here is portability and being able to literally roll up next to any water rather than have a permanent site
Also look up Maya Pedals...
Something like this was on Dragons Den about a year ago - with some British Students - not a bike, but a push along barrel/ roller...
So this is Japanese Kaizen at its best...