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The SURG-Water project will now receive more than €1.1m in funding for the next two years to further develop and scale its solar disinfection reactor.
A team that has found a low-cost way to provide clean water to healthcare facilities in the African nation of Malawi has won a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and Irish Aid challenge.
Prof Kevin McGuigan and Dr Jakub Gajewski of RCSI University of Medicine and Health Science, along with their partner team lead Prof Christabel Yollandah Kambala of Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences, were declared winners of the SFI-Irish Aid Sustainable Development Goals Challenge focused on climate action.
Supported by entrepreneur Martin Wesian, who is a consultant in the WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) sector, the project known as SURG-Water worked with local partners in Malawi to develop a prototype solar disinfector to treat harvested rainwater using renewable solar UV.
The idea is to use a 250 litre harvested rainwater solar disinfection reactor to address a shortage of clean water in maternal health facilities in rural areas.
In an announcement today (22 July), Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Patrick O’Donovan, TD, said that the team’s work over the last 18 months demonstrates the “power of collaboration” in making a difference on a global scale, contributing to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
By winning the SFI-Irish Aid challenge, the team will now receive more than €1.1m in funding for the next two years to continue testing and ultimately develop a scale-up plan for Malawi and surrounding countries.
“The winning project is an exciting collaboration between experts in Ireland and Malawi that will have a real-world impact,” added Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora, Sean Fleming, TD.
“Every year, over 17m women in low-to-medium-income countries give birth in healthcare facilities without safe water. The SURG-Water project has the potential to address this problem, helping to prevent potential life-threatening infections for women and their babies.”
Prof Aonghus McNabola and Prof Padraig Carmody of Trinity College Dublin, and Dr Godfrey Hampwaye of the Southern African Institute for Policy and Research in Zambia were awarded the runner-up prize for the REHEATZ project which is developing hybrid wastewater heat recovery technology for application in Zambian food production.
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