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A P I C T U R E S A Y S M O R E T H A N 1 0 0 0 W O R D S . . .
  
Solar
Evolution (click to
enlarge)
Aqua
Solaris Family Well
Click to enlarge
I N T R O D U C T I O N
In many regions on Earth, the guaranteed availability of clean and
safe drinking water is a great luxury. The lack of clean drinking water is not
just a serious problem in developing countries, but also in the richer countries
around the Mediterranean Sea, the Middle-East, the Caribbean, and Asia/Oceania,
the drinking water shortage is constantly compromises the livelihood and even is
a threat to life itself (the EU country Malta, for example, has the world’s
lowest freshwater per capita ratio). These facts led Jan de Koning to start up
Zonnewater
BV (Sun-Water) in 2001.
Zonnewater developed a drinking water solution that can produce freshwater from
salt, brackish or contaminated water utilizing small scale, decentralized and
practically maintenance free systems entirely based upon solar energy. These
systems are mainly intended for applications in remote places of subtropical and
tropical zones: small islands and other remote coastal locations or any place
where salt/ brackish groundwater or water with toxic mineral (e.g. Arsenic) or
pathogenic microbial contamination is available. The system finds its life
enabling application on far flung Pacific Atolls just as well as, for example,
on top of roofs in cities like Calcutta, fed with contaminated river water.
Places which previously were completely unsuited for human settlement due to a
lack of available freshwater will become more accessible through Zonnewater
systems. In other regions the carrying capacity of the land will be increased
for growing populations. It will be possible to improve the quality of life in a
world suffering from an increasing shortage of drinking water that results from
the intertwined factors agriculture, industrial resource pressure, population
growth, climate change and rising energy costs. Locations dependant on water
imports will become independent of this form of supply: Many logistic and
transportation related as well as economic problems and the pressure on the
natural systems economy and population depend upon will be eased. For various
reasons, the Zonnewater approach also could be interesting in areas where a
water supply is already provided.
Zonnewater can also offer a solution for many countries where the quality and
reliability of the water supplied by centralised utility companies is
sub-standard and/or under the control of monopolists. In some regions,
especially the Middle-East, there are psychological/social factors at play: with
constantly looming war and a fear of terrorist sabotage of the centrally
supplied water, people would rather not be entirely dependant on large-scale
water supply companies. The same is true for many developing countries, where
wide privatization of the water utility sector already has led to near
monopolies of a small number of multi national corporations, allowing them to
allocate resources at will and dictate prices according to their own interests.
A simple technology that has mainly been used by people to provide themselves
with clean drinking water in subtropical and tropical regions is the solar still
(from “solar thermal distiller”). Zonnewater offers a better and cheaper
solution than the solar still : the yield of Zonnewater’s system was increased
to approx. 650% of that of the original flat collector still, which results in
significant practical advantages and a more than substantial economic
improvement. When compared to other high-tech water treatment systems like
reverse Osmosis, another advantage of the Zonnewater system is that it requires
very little maintenance, no regular exchange of spare parts like filters or
membranes, and it demands little technical knowledge on the side of the end user
during the lifespan of the product (ca. 20. years). No outside support or supply
is needed.
As soon as the Zonnewater system, called “Aqua Solaris Family Well” has proven
itself in the market, Zonnewater will approach Non Governmental Organizations
(NGO’s): non-commercial organizations with humanitarian goals, such as disaster
aid (Aqua Solaris would have been an excellent tool for long term aid after the
2005 Tsunami disaster in South Asia) or improving the general standard of living
and health situation in developing countries. Clean and safe drinking water
often is not available for the population. Therefore, contaminated ground or
surface water is used as drinking water, even in Hospitals, schools and
Kindergartens. In addition to the economic bottom line, Zonnewater also aims at
idealistic and humanitarian goals in these countries, and the systems will
therefore be sold for a much cheaper price than in the premium European market,
both: to help the poorest parts of the population through NGOs and Philanthropic
organisations and Individuals and to open an enormous and previously almost
unexplored market.
For the time being, Zonnewater does not have to worry about possible
competition. Global patents are pending and no other comparable solution exists
on the market at this time. It will be difficult for other companies to
introduce a similar drinking water system onto the market without risking patent
and trademark infringements. Zonnewater also has a significant competitive
advantage since the Aqua Solaris can be brought to industrial production almost
immediately. Entering the market in such a short time span would not be possible
for competitors, because they would first have to undertake significant research
and development efforts to achieve the same level of optimization, as Zonnewater
did. To conclude, the makers of solar stills can only be considered competitors
in a very limited sense: they do offer a remotely similar product but with a
much lower water yield and a number of practical drawbacks. It is akin to
comparing a horse carriage with an Automobile.
Zonnewater aims at growing into a successful company serving a global customer
base. The goal is to become the global market leader in the field of
decentralized small scale solar water treatment systems within three to five
years from 2005 on, and to keep this position in the private drinking water
system market in the target regions. To accomplish this, Zonnewater developed a
‘four pillar policy’ applying interrelated instruments in the fields of market
approach, product development as well as organisation and resource management.
This will enable Zonnewater to expand, from a small start-up enterprise into a
powerful company in the fields of small-scale drinking water systems, but via
pathways utilizing technological spin-offs also in the fields of wastewater
treatment and large scale salt production.
Cooperation is a major factor in the Zonnewater business philosophy. It has long
been an established fact that ultimately the economy will only survive through
cooperation. Finding suitable local partners among businesses but also
grass-root organisations, the academic world and other stakeholders in society
is a key factor to succeed. To this end, Zonnewater can rely on the networks and
knowledge of the members of the board and the advisory council, the latter
consisting of, among others, the chairman of the World Water Forum, researchers
of TNO and the general manager of the Ecological Management Foundation. Jan de
Koning himself has a wealth of contacts from his time as a big-industry manager.
To promote Zonnewater, his partner Dr. Stefan Thiesen already began to activate
his contacts on the highest level of the global academe, the political arena in
Germany
and the United States, the UK, Pacific regions and trans-national NGO-scenes.
Solid contacts already exist to numerous interested regional distributors and
license takers around the world. Working contacts also have been established to
the international Business Angel network, possibly allowing direct access to
production facilities, public funds and strategic logistics locations in
Southern Europe.
Two spin-off products of the water system are being tested just now (May 2005):
a system to accelerate the evaporation in salt pans, at least doubling the
production per area and hence dramatically increasing cost-effectiveness.
A second spin-off application is the treatment of wastewater contaminated with
dissolved matter such as toxic salt-compounds or heavy metals (usually also
existing as dissolved oxides and salt-complexes). Natural nano-effects of the
innovative capillary fibres in Zonnewater’s artificial surface expander
dramatically increase the temperature and wind driven evaporation. Clean water
vapour escapes, leaving the toxic chemicals solidly bound to the fibres behind,
which can safely be disposed off by means of incineration or special dumps. This
way a dramatic reduction of waste material is possible.
Other possibilities for spin-off applications as well as optimizations of the
existing systems are continuously explored, but bringing water to those in need
is our top priority!
T H E A R T O F G R E E N I N G T H E D E S E R T
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