Santa Clara University, $5,000

The difficulty of detecting small quantities of arsenic and other contaminants in water threatens the health of millions of people worldwide. Existing technologies can very accurately quantify arsenic levels in water, but their expense, required training, and need for off-site analysis make them infeasible in low-resource settings. AquaSift is an integrated system combining a microfluidic sensor, data acquisition mobile app, and web-based data logging ecosystem that allows for quick, easy, error-proof evaluation of water sources for a variety of contaminants, including arsenic.

University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, $5,000

Anani is a sensor that can be placed in a water main or supply line in order to track household water usage. The sensor reports water usage to a mobile app in order to show users how much water their household is using. The device helps households to change their water habits in order to preserve a natural resource.

Art Center College of Design, $25,000

Calientamigos is a three-part system that gives poor families access to hot water for bathing, cooking and cleaning.

http://www.idsa.org/safe-agua-colombia-calientamigos

Each year, over 255 million people are affected by natural disasters, leaving them without access to clean water for days. Current relief efforts cannot provide enough clean water to disaster victims in a timely fashion. DayOne Response developed a family-sized water purification backpack with an integrated filter that allows users to collect, store, treat, and transport clean drinking water in just 30 minutes. The product has been deployed in over 20 countries. The team from California Polytechnic University participated in VentureWell’s E-Team program in 2009. VentureWell invested in the company alongside several angel investors in 2013.

dayoneresponse.com

University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, $5,000

LiteWater is an ultraviolet (UV) drinking water disinfection device that allows for an easy and economical residential point-of-use water treatment. It both filters and disinfects, killing any harmful microorganisms.

Northern Illinois University, $5,000

This project will utilize a newly-isolated species of microalgae to improve municipal wastewater treatment. The microalgae will remove polluting levels of nitrate and phosphate from sewage presently discharged into waterways, and the algae can then be harvested and used to produce biodiesel.

University of Utah, $25,000

This E-Team is developing a portable, point-of-use, solar-powered water purification device to provide clean water in rural areas or wherever access to clean water is limited. The technology utilizes the sun to oxidize bacteria, viruses and protozoa in surface water and can use low voltage electricity from lightweight, durable solar panels when lighting conditions are less than ideal.

University of Colorado Boulder, $5,000

This team is developing a solar drip irrigation system for small-plot farmers around the world. Current small-plot farming practices depend on the use of costly diesel engines to run irrigation pumps to water fields. The inefficiency of diesel has caused a shift towards drip irrigation on a global scale, which has led to an increase in crop yield and a decrease in water usage. These decreases have paved the way for SolVia Solar, a solar-concentrated drip irrigation system. While having a higher initial cost than current diesel engine pumps, the reliability and low maintenance costs of a concentrated solar system could provide both financial and crop yield benefits.

University of Houston, $20,000

WAVVE Stream is developing material product enhancements for industrial water filtration applications in various industries. WAVVE Stream technologies are patented materials in both a coating and resin-bead application form that were created to be easily integrated onto existing products for contaminant removal and biofilm control. They are applicable on a variety of surface areas and systems including filter membranes, filter systems, glass, and ceramic surfaces, among others.

Cornell University, $25,000

Phenol and its derivatives are produced in a wide variety of industrial processes and make up the majority of EPA-regulated compounds under the Clean Water Act. Traditional methods of removing phenol from wastewater are costly, use a lot of materials, and often do not convert the compounds into less reactive forms. This team’s solution traps enzymes in metal oxide nanoparticle cages and places them on scaffolds, which is both more ten times more efficient and reusable.