WaterFOre:

Sustainable water supply for rural communities in Syria through forward osmosis

Lead organization
WATERWHELM LTD

Partners
University of Edinburgh
COUNCIL FOR AT-RISK ACADEMICS
Local Development Organization

Project Summary:

The vision for the WaterFOre project is to provide people in Syria with access to an affordable cutting-edge water treatment technology to help meet immediate needs for safe water for drinking and hygiene as well as providing longer-term opportunities for local/new enterprises as part of a value-chain around the technology thus creating jobs and sustainable economic growth.

The potential impact is significant as the Syrian context is one of protracted conflict having damaged the water supply networks and millions of people not having regular access to safe water. With many displaced people in the country, vulnerable families and children, especially those in rural areas, have had to resort to unsafe alternatives. The background is of existing water scarcity in the region and over-exploitation of groundwater resources.

The Waterwhelm technology is based on forwarding osmosis (FO) and can transform almost any feed water into safe drinking quality water. This is an emerging technology that uses the natural osmotic pressure of a safe chemical draw solution is used to draw clean water across a semi-permeable membrane from the feed water. The key innovations are in the nature and form of draw solution as well as the means to efficiently separate out the clean water using low-grade thermal energy (approximately 50-90 C) and minimal electrical energy. The draw solution is recirculated in a closed-loop system. In order to assess the feasibility of the technology in a Syrian context, the following key objectives have been determined:

• Identify new/existing sources of feed water;
• Identify the most appropriate heat sources (e.g. solar, heat from power generation) and local capability to deliver these;
• Determine technical solution(s) with likelihood of greatest impact (i.e. would saving water through recycling be as effective as producing water from new sources?);
• Develop technical feasibility to best fit the needs of end-users, achieving the greatest water output with minimal capital/operating costs and complexity;
• Understand the attractiveness of proposed solutions to potential end-users
  considering social, cultural, and religious barriers to uptake;
• Understand relevant gender equality/social inclusion issues;
• Identify potential local installers/maintainers/other supply chain partners.

The project will initially focus on rural areas of North West Syria. An appropriately adapted/affordable version of the FO technology would be innovative in the Syrian context offering a scalable solution with advantages over existing technologies such as reverse osmosis including lower capital cost, \>90% reduced electricity input, higher water recovery and reduced maintenance.

WHO CAN I CONTACT about the project?  If you have any further questions about the study, please contact the lead researcher, DR. ALI ABBASSI (email: a.abbassi@ed.ac.uk) or Dr. LISA BODEN (email: lisa.boden@ed.ac.uk), Dr. Shaher ABDULLATEEF (email: shaher.abdullateef@gmail.com)

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WATERWHELM:

Waterwhelm is an Edinburgh-based company commercialising a patent-pending technology for self-powered treatment of wastewater. Their finished product will be able to take in wastewater and produce freshwater, renewable energy and fertiliser without any external supply of power or heat. They have recently won the Converge KickStart Challenge, Young Scottish EDGE and Inspire, Launch, Grow competitions, and are hosted by the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation as part of the Climate KIC Accelerator programme.