NM firm helps out
Albuquerque startup sends water purifiers to Nepal
A homegrown technology startup in Albuquerque is helping earthquake victims in Nepal with hand-held water purifiers that can treat up to 80 gallons in a few minutes with one single charge of the battery-operated device.
Aqua Research LLC is immediately donating 40 of its H2gO (pronounced H-to-go) purifiers, which cost $100 each. A private donor is sending another 20, and will pay for 20 more to match the next 20 donated by other people, said Aqua Research President and CEO Rodney Herrington. That would bring total units to 100, valued at $10,000.
“We want to get our technology to where it can save lives,” Herrington said. “This is the first case of a major disaster where we had some inventory left that we can put to good use.”
The purifiers include batteries with built-in solar rechargers and a USB cable-charging option. Users can recharge it more than 500 times before replacement, allowing them to treat at least 40,000 gallons of water.
The purifiers can be used virtually anywhere to cleanse even the dirtiest water because all it requires is salt. The unit shoots a small electric current into a thimble-sized amount of water mixed with salt. That creates an oxidant solution that users pour into water for purification.
“With the recharging options, it’s self-sustaining,” Herrington said. “You just need salt.”
Herrington invented the purifier as chief technology officer at the Albuquerquebased water-purification company MIOX Corp.
He then licensed it, upgraded the device to make it more userfriendly, and began selling it this year in the U.S. through a Wisconsin-based partner that distributes to major retail chains such as Wal-Mart and Walgreens.
Operation Blessing, a Virginia-based nonprofit that provides disaster relief worldwide, will distribute the donated purifiers in Nepal. That organization previously provided purifiers following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
“The number one thing we did in Haiti that saved lives in the first week or two was to provide safe water,” Operation Blessing President Bill Horan told local reporters in Virginia.