A Word from the Founder
What makes us unique? We’re about water. We’re about health. We’re about education. We’re independent. We aren’t tied to any one way of doing things. If this village needs something simple, we install sand filtration and chlorination. Tough bacteria? Gravity membrane filtration. We’re innovators. Got an idea to help reduce malaria, like artemisia annua? We’ll try it. Papyrus for wastewater treatment so the villagers have something to sell? Why not?
We are teachers. Need a theme for a Master’s Thesis or help fleshing things out? Ask us; we do that. Want to jump-start your career by gaining experience doing something outside the box, learning unique problem-solving skills? Come to Uganda.
One of the most inspiring things to me is how much we can do to improve water quality worldwide with very little means. This doesn’t mean meeting all WHO standards in every instance, although that too is often possible, but creating simple, clear bacteria-free water; a huge step for a lot of areas! How much does a rapid sand filter in a rain barrel cost? Can you sift sand? Find gravel? Get a couple of sticks of pipe? It’s easy! Chlorine from a bucket of salt water, electrodes, a car battery and a 60W solar panel for recharge – very doable. How much effort does it take to build a sand dam? Mostly a couple of dedicated guys with shovels. We invite you to collaborate with your own ideas.
We’re not everyone’s dream, but we make a real difference in people’s lives. We make clean water. We improve health in places others seldom go. Join us. It’s a great journey!
Michael Ottensmann
ABOUT US
WeDev Water (we develop water) is a collection of people improving the drinking-water and sanitation situation in developing countries, particularly in Uganda. We consist of a young and passionate international team of friends, coming from the US, Germany, Albania, Brazil, Spain, Cyprus, Mexico, Serbia, South Africa, India and Uganda. The team is currently comprised of engineers, engineering students, design students, filmmakers and other professionals. Our primary language is English, but we also speak German, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Serbian, Albanian, Romanian, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, and Luganda.
We believe in the potential of adaptive, conventional solutions for drinking-water and sanitation problems as well as creative, new ideas to solve these problems. That´s why we especially want to give young students of different specializations the opportunity to work on their Bachelors- or Masters-Thesis. We believe in students with new ideas for better drinking-water or sanitation and we want to support young people realizing their concepts. According to our name, we develop water solutions.