Water

Water Champion: Adrian Yeo Piah Song
Safe Drinking Water in an Instant
November 2008

By Ma. Christina Dueñas
Water Knowledge and Communications Coordinator, ADB

Dr. Adrian Yeo heads the Water Initiative for Securing Health (WISH), a Singapore-based nongovernment organization dedicated to bringing safe drinking water to poor, water-scarce communities in the Asia-Pacific region. Since its establishment in 2005, WISH has installed more than 180 water filtration units in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Indonesia, benefiting over 100,000 people. WISH is supported by private citizens and organizations such as Mercy Relief, Singapore Red Cross, Singapore Diamond Exchange, and Tan Chin Tuan Foundation. Adrian Yeo graduated with a PhD from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Nanyang Technological University in 2007 with a research focus on water treatment using membrane processes. When the Asian tsunami happened, he jumped at the opportunity to help solve the drinking water problem for many tsunami victims. First on Adrian’s agenda was to perfect his idea of an easy-to-use and assemble water filtration system. The final model was a 15 kg. portable unit composed of a hand pump connected to a tank equipped with a pre-filter to remove larger particles and a 0.05 micron hollow fiber membrane ultra-filter to remove bacteria. With a flick of the pump, filthy water from ponds and other sources sent through the tank comes out squeaky clean. Next, Adrian peddled his technology to donors (none of whom were initially willing to take the then 28-year old PhD student seriously) and set up his NGO. Upon getting his first financial support from Singapore Red Cross, he set off for Aceh. In 2007, Adrian was offered a year-long post-doctoral position at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where his work focused on making the brackish or salty water in the Middle East drinkable. Recently back in Singapore, Adrian is now looking into desalination technology suitable for coastal villages and water-based social enterprises in rural areas.

How did you come up with your device?

Back in 2004, I was doing my PhD in membrane technology. As I got more familiar with the technology, I felt that it could work as a simplified method for creating drinking water. I kicked the idea around with friends and did more research, but the Asian tsunami gave me the impetus to get something done. Everyone was bringing mountains of drinking water into Aceh and I thought that wouldn’t be sustainable. So I started working on an easy to assemble/use/maintain system.

How is your technology different from what’s already available in the market?

I wouldn’t say it is very different. There are a lot of ready technologies that can benefit people in developing countries. However, since commercial reasons to modify them for the poor aren’t very strong, companies don’t bother. All I did for this product was to tailor it to fit the market.

What major difficulties did you encounter in mainstreaming your technology?

Funding was a big issue. I think donors saw me as your garden-variety crazy PhD student. They said I needed an NGO before I can access their funds, and I had absolutely no idea how to set one up. I founded WISH eventually but with a lot of help along the way. If the Singapore Red Cross hadn’t taken a leap of faith on me and my machine, implementation would have been much, much slower. I’m eternally grateful to them for that and their continued support over the years.

Maintenance was also difficult as we were dealing with people without formal education. When we installed the units, we trained the villagers on usage and maintenance. They promised to maintain everything but we found out later that no such thing was happening.  Fortunately, we partnered with a local NGO and a local polytechnic and they went to the villages repeatedly to show people how to properly work the system. Our partners’ persistence paid off and the villagers eventually got the hang of things. These days, they’ve even replaced the hand pumps with electric ones.

What approach did you use to introduce it to the people?

We worked very closely with a local NGO that had a lot of experience working in the area. They identified the villages, arranged transport, and got some polytechnic students to explain the technology.

The people welcomed the relief the device brought. We had a bit of trouble with the water vendors but the village head and religious leaders talked to them and diffused the situation.

What did you learn when you first experienced the realities on the ground?

Prior to Aceh, I had only tested the system in the laboratory, using some removable fittings. When I got there, I had to install the first unit in an orphanage. I couldn’t buy the expensive Singaporean fittings I used in the lab in Aceh, so I made do with PVC fittings. 

The first time I turned the unit on was a disaster—the connections burst and water splashed everywhere, drenching everyone. The little orphans watching me had a good laugh at that.  I bought glue from a local store and glued everything together.  Apparently, it wasn’t enough; my second attempt resulted in water spurting from the connections. Obviously, my poor plumbing skills need upgrading.  Good thing everything went well on the third attempt. By then, I’ve realized the vast difference between doing something in the lab and actually using it in the field.

How has your innovation affected the lives of people benefiting from it?

You know, I thought we were just providing drinking water. But subsequent visits showed me that we were doing so much more.  In schools, some principals sell water to surrounding villagers and use the funds to purchase books and uniforms. We installed one unit in a widow’s house and she said villagers respect her more these days, calling her the “water lady.” A kid told me that he no longer needs to look for firewood to boil water.

The device started out as a quick-fix to the post-tsunami situation but the villagers really embraced it. I’m now looking into a business model for local enterprises retailing similar systems.

Do you think your technology will be adaptable to other water-scarce areas?

Yes and no. Different water qualities require different methods of treatment. If no groundwater exists, we can harvest rainwater or dig deeper wells. I don’t advocate any single technology as a panacea to water problems. Every technology needs a context to work in.

What would you change about this innovation and the approach you adopted in mainstreaming it?

My major mistake was to bring in stuff from Singapore to Indonesia. I could have actually bought most of the stuff locally and built a similar system at a much cheaper cost if I’d spent some time in the area beforehand. Next time, I would advocate a fully local solution. I would not use membrane filters unless they were available in that country already.

Speaking of costs, the unit price also needs to go down. At the moment, we’re at SGD2000/unit. With China producing membrane filters like there is no tomorrow, the prices have been dropping significantly. But I believe we can still reduce the cost by more than half if we use local and cheaper materials from the target countries/communities.

What insights can you share from the entire experience?

First, we need to move away from the charity model, which simply cannot progress without ever increasing donations. I know there are situations where charity is the answer but I think most situations can be handled by a business model. I’m now exploring how my technology can be adapted as a social enterprise run by Indonesians, i.e. village entrepreneurs can buy the water treatment system on credit, make money from it, and then pay off the credit. It’s early days yet, and we’re still developing a pilot project to get concrete numbers.

Second, local support is a must. Projects like mine should work closely with local NGOs that are familiar with ground conditions. We couldn’t have installed over 175 systems in Aceh without the support of our local partners.

Finally, local solutions should first be considered. There are plenty of ways to remove bacteria from water. Next time, I would suggest first looking into some locally available systems before setting sights on external ones.

References:

“One man’s Wish for clean water for all”*

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