The goal of Folia Water is to provide clean water for some of the 660 million people around the world without access to clean drinking water, with a goal of 100 million people using pAge papers each day at a price point of a penny per day.
Access to clean water is a basic human right. Lack thereof has deprived millions of their dignity, their well-being, and their very lives. In many regions, water is abundant but contaminated by pathogens that cause debilitating and deadly diseases.
The pAge filter is cheap, lightweight for portability, requires no energy or external inputs, and is made of only green reagents and renewable paper. Because the pAge filters are simply paper, educational information is printed on them to educate users about water, sanitation, and hygiene. The papers release silver at concentrations below EPA/WHO guidelines and are thus safe and long lasting: a paper containing mg’s of silver should be able to filter about 100 L of water, several weeks of water for one person. A backpack of filter papers should be able to clean water for a village of 500 people for 1 year, while a pallet can provide clean water for 10,000 people for one year.
Folia Water aspires to create a point-of-use filter paper system at a price point – 10 cents/paper – that is universally accessible to the poorest of the poor: the mg’s of silver in the papers are a negligible contribution to the cost, while a few cm2 of paper costs pennies. Even the poorest will then be empowered to control their own water quality, bypassing expensive large-scale water infrastructure.
Our vision is to provide a range of accessible, effective, robust, and culturally adapted technologies to prevent waterborne illness. All technological advancement is contingent upon literacy and education, so Folia Water products include educational materials that allow users to gain control of their water quality, sanitation and health.