A group of young designers entered Google’s “Innovate or Die Pedal Powered Machine Contest” with a unique machine which could positively affect millions of lives across the world. This group of creative minds created the ‘Aquaduct’ and snagged the first place prize of $5,000. The Aquaduct is a bicycle with a water storage unit on the back connected to a filter all built into the frame of the bike. It works like this. For example, someone in a third world country, where clean water is a scarce commodity, bikes to a local water source. The rider then fills the water storage tank and begins to bike away. As the rider pedals the bicycle, the water from the storage tank is filtered and delivered to a clean tank at the front of the bike (near the handlebars). By the time the rider reaches his or her destination, a tank of clean water is ready to be enjoyed. The Aquaduct team is talking with a number of manufacturers who want to produce the Aquaduct on a wider scale. You can view a demo of the Aquaduct bicycle on Youtube.
Biking for water!
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on Aug 24th, 2008 at 1:25 am
Great feature, I really like where they are going! I have been most impressed with the “Water Cone” featured here http://www.watercone.com/product.html
That is more for salt water though, and so this application would be great for non-coastal areas of the world.
on Aug 24th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Chris, the Water Cone seems like a very simple yet amazing product. This little device will save millions of lives once its distributed worldwide. I think the Water Cone can find popularity being used as a mainstream application for outdoor enthusiasts and also for military use. Great find. Know where I can get one now?