b'16 Partner News Summer 2022EnterpriseSolving technology poverty: one rainforest community at a timeAn IET grant has helped Colombian Electrical Engineer,Believe it or not, they are the lucky ones. Elsewhere, do-it-yourself well taps have Felix Lesmes, make affordable technology to producecontaminated aquifers in the rainforest, tainted with pollution from illegal mining, safe drinking water that could improve the quality ofillegal logging and agriculture. Diarrhoea life for thousands of people in remote and indigenouscaused by inadequate water and poor sanitation is estimated to be the cause of communities. Electrical testing company and IETdeath for over 3,000 children under the age of five per year in the Americasmaking partner, Megger, also provided support. diarrheal diseases the sixth biggest cause of death for children (Source: World Bank).When remote and micro-communities lose people to disease, there is no social security system, so the knock-on effect to these Technology discrimination. Two words thatThe problem families is profound.describe how millions of people are deprivedThe Colombian Amazonas region covers of the same basic life chances that many ofover 109,665 km2 of protected jungle andThe projectus take for granted.is inhabited by more than 10 ethnic groupsThe project begun before the Covid-19 and settlers.Leticia, an off-grid city on thelockdown in February 2020, Felix self-funded Engineer, economist and IET volunteer, Felixborder with Brazil, Colombia and Peru, is thethe design and manufacture of a water Lesmes, understood more about technologyregions main urban settlement and is homefiltration device to disinfect contaminated discrimination and poverty when learning justto over 40% of the local population. Aroundwater, intended for off-grid communities. He how many remote communities in his home30,000 of the remaining people are spreadreached out to groups in Leticia to secure country, Colombia, and its neighbours hadacross small communities and groups, all ofsupport to ensure the filters would be used. no clean drinking water and no access towhich are off-grid and off mains water.cheap power. Water, light and power: threeOnce the device was proven, he trained two vital elements of life that many do not have,Over 50% of Leticias population live inlocal teams responsible for the monitoring but Felix knew that by democratising readilypoverty conditions, with no water, while theand continuity of the programme Rocio available technology, they could easily reach. other half access water by drilling makeshiftand Ivan, a couple who specialise in water wells in their backyards. For most peoplesecurity at the FRPG Foundation in Bogota, In 2020 Felix took a sabbatical to spendhere, clean water can only be bought fromand Magda and Andres, a couple working for more time with his son. Inspired by the dataa food bank from the townsand worldsENAM, the local energy company in Leticia. about criminally-low access to safe drinkingsmallestCoca-Cola factory at a cost of water in parts of the Amazon, he began50p for two litres, or by purchasing bottledTraining and support for such intervention is to research low cost water purificationwater from a local supermarket. People walkessential. History is littered with examples of solutions. I like numbersand these werefor five or more miles across town and backtechnology supplied to remote communities arresting. I wanted to apply myself to thisto buy expensive, monopolised wateranthat people dont understand, nor can they problem, I thought I could do something tounsuitable labour for the old and sick, andrepair, resulting in the equipment being help, he says. also highly inefficient.abandoned and the promising solution dies.'