The winning Aquaduct Mobile Filtration vehicle was designed to help people living in developing countries, who often do not have access to clean water. The Aquaduct vehicle transports water and cleans it while in motion. Many women in developing countries need to walk great distances in order to bring water to their families. The new vehicle offers an easier way to cover these distances, and is intended to reduce the pollution caused by motorbikes or trucks used for water transportation.

The Aquaduct can carry enough water for an entire family and cleans the water as it transports it, so that there is no need to further sanitize the water by boiling. The vehicle has two tanks – a storage tank, which contains the water before it is cleaned, and a clean tank, to which the clean water is transferred. Other components of the Aquaduct include a filter, a peristaltic pump, and a clutch.

As the rider peddles, the peristaltic pump draws the water from the storage tank and through the filter. The filtered water is then transferred to the clean tank. The clean tank is a closed removable container which can be simply taken into the home, allowing the water to be used right away. It is also possible to disengage the peddles from the wheels, enabling stationary water filtering. A short movie of the Aquaduct is available here.

TFOT previously covered a different water purifying innovation called “Life Saver”, which is a bottle installed with a mechanism capable of purifying even the dirtiest water, eliminating foul tastes and smells from the liquid within seconds. TFOT also reported on the AquaMaker AM10 - an innovative water-generating machine that was designed to enhance water availability and reduce power consumption by generating water from the air we breathe.

More information on the competition and the winning Aquaduct vehicle is available here.