A Bicycle That Produces Drinking Water May Help Thirsty Villages

Nippon Basic, a start-up based in Japan, has plans to scale up production of a bicycle that purifies water for those living in remote villages or disaster areas. Cycloclean functions just like any other bicycle, except that the addition of a water filtering system allows bikers to crank out drinking water using the same pedaling motion that propels bikers forward. The rotation of the bike chain helps to remove impurities by driving a motor that pumps water through a system of filters, pumps and hoses located near the rear wheel.
But just how much drinking water are we talking about here? The company touts on their website that during the course of a 10 hour biking trip, the technology will generate about three tons of clean water, enough to quench the thirst of 1,500 people. The modified bicycle also features puncture-proof tires and the capacity to suck up water at a depth of five meters.

www.smartplanet.com...
I thought this was pretty cool, simple and efficient. We should all probably have one of these on our bikes.
I am surprised this has just now been suggested since both bikes and filtering water have been around for so long, but never too late I suppose.
Why not hook one up to a camelbak and drink while riding too. Well I am glad to see such practical AND affordable techniques employed.

Peace,
spec

Excellent invention!
I would liike to know how much it costs to build one though.....
Whatever happened to the water purifying drinking straw? I thought that was gonna revolutionise clean drinking water world wide.....??????

reply to post by stirling


Hey stirling, thanks for the chime in and yes they still have those straws, but I never heard of their widespread distribution plan. Along the same lines I have heard much goodness about the Lifesaver Water Bottle. www.lifesaversystems.com...
They appear to the best at filtering out any and everything.
Still though, there should be some type of filtration system deployed to areas in need. I agree, I always here about something with promise only to see it slowly but surely disappear. Maybe this one will catch on.

As far as costs, the system only comes with the specialized bicycle at a whopping $6500.00
Surely they will start offering the system by itself, to add to existing bikes, otherwise I'm calling ripoff!

The bikes have already been deployed by the maker, Nippon Basic, from Kawasaki, outside Tokyo. They cost ¥550,000 each. That’s around $6,650. As you can see, they’re not going to be selling to residents, but the company has shifted 200 of them in five years. The bikes themselves are made to last, with non-puncture tires and redundancies so that you can still use the bike for transportation or pumping when the filters have expired, for example, and one great use for this sturdy beast is on the ground at disaster sites.

www.wired.com...
www.nipponbasic.ecnet.jp...

Peace,
spec

Originally posted by speculativeoptimist
As far as costs, the system only comes with the specuialized bicycle at a whopping $6500.00

Surely they will start offering the system by itself, to add to existing bikes, otherwise I'm calling ripoff!

I agree, $6500 sounds pretty steep for what looks like a $100 bicycle and maybe $200 worth of gear.

I don't see why they can't sell it for $1000 and still make a tidy profit.

And I'm sure the people that need this don't have an extra $6500 lying around.

Looks like a typical 3 stage filtration system. I threw one together about a week a go for about $115. Replacement filters would be about $30 and are supposed to be good for about 500 gallons or about 6 cents a gallon. I hooked it up to an air tight plastic contanier with a bike tire valve so I can pressurize using a bicycle pump. Have used it without the pressure, just gravity, and I think it would fill a 5 gallon bucket in about 8-10 hours but I'm sure things will need to be pressurized as the filters start to clog up.

reply to post by daskakik

That's kind of what I was thinking daskakik, so what the hell? Why would they promote something that the people who need it, can't afford? The marketing is including Unicef, and other people in desperation for clean water.
Thanks for the assessment and I agree, this does not seem like advanced tech here, unless there is something I am missing. Here is a diagram of the workings:

Notice the patents too. How can anyone charge this much?!
I can't believe the price is correct, maybe a mistype for 650.00......no?

spec

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


Well the article linked to seems to be a poor translation. Where it states the price it says

Originally developed in 2005, the company has since sold 200 bikes to countries like for the Japanese equivalent of 6,600 dollars per unit.

Probably talking about any currency other than US dollars.

I can't help feeling that there is a small problem with this machine.
The fluid container seems to contain about .5 of a litre of fluid, so to produce 3 tons (why they give a weight measurement is also a mystery) your going to be getting off the bike a refilling that little cup an awful lot.

I can see it would be good for one or two people to use, but claiming it can supply 1500 people with water seems ridiculous

Edit to add
Exercising hard in the hot weather is a good way of losing fluid, up to 2 litres an hour of it

reply to post by davespanners

Hey dave! I see what ya mean, so I tried to calculate a bit and when I found out 1 cubic meter equzls 1 ton of water, then it made it easier to visualize and I can see these pumps doing that after 10 straight hours. I believe they are promoting the idea of making a bicycle a water-side stationary thing, as opposed to actual riding, because they mention the stand.
Check this out:

the bikes can actually be a form of revenue for businesses that sell water and create new opportunities for the millions of rickshaw drivers in Bangladesh who stand to lose their jobs as the economy grows.

So this could bring some revenue to the poorer areas for a change, as well as clean water. That sounds pretty good.

spec

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


lol

Yes that does make more sense then what I was imagining! at first I though. "How on earth is he going to carry the 3 tons of water around to start with" then I imagined him just cycling round and round a lake but a static bike makes sense

reply to post by davespanners

How on earth is he going to carry the 3 tons of water around

Now THAT might justify 6500 dollars for a bicycle, if it could carry 3 tons too!

I can build a combination solar and Reverse osmosis system for under $500 that will do about 100 gallon a day.

I have been working on my system for RV use where i can take untreated steam water and fill RV tanks with clean fresh water.
without any pedaling.

Oh three tons of water is only 719 gals.

I don't see the advantage of this "mobile" system versus just using a gravity fed system.

I mean, wouldn't you have to carry around hundreds of pounds of water on the bike to make it worth it?

Originally posted by ANNED
I can build a combination solar and Reverse osmosis system for under $500 that will do about 100 gallon a day.

I have been working on my system for RV use where i can take untreated steam water and fill RV tanks with clean fresh water.
without any pedaling.

Oh three tons of water is only 719 gals.

edit on 25-2-2011 by ANNED because: (no reason given)

edit on 25-2-2011 by ANNED because: (no reason given)

I thought 1 litre of water weighed one KG....1g of water is 1cm2 of water??
1 ton = 1000 kg x 3 = 3000kg / 4.54 = 660 gallons?

Either way....i doubt you would want to filter 3 tonnes of water through 1 filter.
There is a program over here in the uk called The Dragons Den...a couple of years ago some students invented a filteration system that used the movement of the wheels to filter the water.
You didnt ride this thing....you pushed it. They were saying that water isnt freely available so people had to travel a few miles to get water. This thing could filter out all the bad stuff in a mile or so. It was nowhere near as expensive as that one $6500 really...if they could afford that they could surely afford other more permenant methods of getting clean water...ie wells or filteration plants ( $6500x200=$1.3 million)

heres their webpage

www.thisisredbutton.co.uk...

doesnt show the price...but im sure it was in the range of $100s rather than $1000s

reply to post by ANNED


Sounds like a good set up
I wonder why your method is not widely promoted for regions short on clean water? Seems like a practical and efficient process. What type of filtering do you use?
How good would your system be for more contaminated or polluted water? I guess one could add a few more charcoal filters maybe?
Can't one run water through a giant pile of dirt for natural filtration?

spec

reply to post by WickettheRabbit

I believe they are designed to be propped up on a stand for stationary pedaling, by a water source.

spec

reply to post by loves a conspiricy


Yet another reason to dig ATS, the sources yo!
That's a crafty idea, thanks for the link!
Maybe they could run them alongside water sources, lakes/rivers, just as a means of processing, then the clean water would be transported normally to various villages.

spec