The aim of the water purification system is to make drinking water affordable and easily accessible to the majority of villagers (up to 90% possible) in rural and remote areas, thus resulting in better health and overall productivity.

The system is run by a village entrepreneur who can cover any maintenance costs incurred by the sale of the water, with a public donation covering the initial capital costs. Sunlabob also helps maintain the system, to ensure its long life.

Currently many rural areas are without access to reliable water, often because piped systems are too expensive to install/maintain. Moreover, wells/boreholes often breakdown because they are not serviced regularly, and are liable to collapse because they are hand-dug. Also, both of these systems do not guarantee the hygiene of the storage unit for the water.

The water purification unit, capable of supplying up to 5000L/day, is supplied by Sunlabob’s hardware partner Our World, while the disinfection of the bottles is done by the Antenna WATA chlorination device, which produces chlorine locally without the need to import dangerous chemicals.

The system works as illustrated below, with Sunlabob providing the maintenance and service package, and a public donor providing only the initial investment for the system:

With this model, the program is self-sustainable, with all income generated used to pay for the village entrepreneur’s salary and the maintenance costs necessary. This means that the system will last for many years to come.

The program is currently in its pilot phase, with the successful installation of the system in a village in Vientiane province. Customer satisfaction has so far been positive, and village enthusiasm high.