You’d think, living on a planet composed mostly of water, it’d be easier to get a hold of drinkable water. But a lot of third-world countries (and heck, some parts of our own United States) can’t seem to get consistent access to clean water. We need all the innovators we can get on this front. Innovators like, say, Sean Ashwell.
Sean Ashwell is a car wash owner by profession, but an engineer by trade. His car wash uses a lot of water, and the cleaning leaves him with a bunch of unusable, gunky, pitch-black water. To help save on his water bill, Ashwell invented a new water purifying system he has named “Neptune Filtration.” The Neptune is a modular system that can be plugged into any water pump with a single power source, as well as easily packed up and transported.
Ashwell lacks funds to conduct official government-approved tests, so he can’t sell water purified with Neptune. However, in tests he’s performed on his own time with his own stock of water, he’s been able to purify pitch-black water to crystal clear and safe for contact, though still a few hairs shy of drinkable. That might not seem like good news, but Ashwell says that it only just barely makes the mark when purified from extremely dirty water. If used on normal river water for example, Neptune can get it drinkable easily.
Ashwell is still conducting tests on his own time and dime, and hopes his device could be a boon to countries without clean water.
