Seattle, USA-based PATH has received a US$17 million (EUR 13.1 million) grant from the Gates Foundation to identify low-cost consumer products that can treat and store water in the home and to develop a commercial market for those products. Expected to be launched first in India, the five-year PATH project will explore filtration and chemical treatment methods for household water purification in poor communities in Africa and Asia.

PATH justifies its approach to focus on the household level and the private sector by pointing to the failure of large-scale, public water-improvement projects in the developing world.

Existing commercial household treatment systems are still too expensive, according to project leader Glenn Austin. He said that PATH is working with a number of manufacturers, including Procter & Gamble (manufacturer of PUR Purifier of Water [1]) and Unilever to develop products tailored to even the poorest communities.

Established in 1977, PATH is an international non-profit organisation with 500 staff and an annual budget (2005) of US$ 99 million (EUR 76.3 million). PATH and its partners have commercialised 26 health technologies, 19 of which are currently being used in developing countries.

[1] P&G Health Sciences Institute – Safe Drinking Water

Related web site: WHO | The International Network to Promote Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage

Related news: Solar disinfection: new research project incorporates nanotechnology, Source Weekly, 20 Dec 2006 ; Household treatment: significant reduction in diarrhoea achieved, Karachi, Source Weekly, 19 Sep 2006

Contact: Glenn Austin, PATH, USA, info@path.org, http://www.path.org

Source: Tom Paulson, Seattle Post Intelligencer, 11 Dec 2006 ; Sandi Doughton, Seattle Times, 9 Dec 2006 ; PATH, 8 Dec 2006

Tags: water quality