Leveling the Playing Field

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

― Richard Buckminster Fuller

When I started in the water sector seven years ago, it was primarily because of everything I read about the lack of clean drinking water, and a desire to help make things better. But when I dove into the data I was amazed by the number of people in the world that lack access to basic wastewater treatment. According to Global Water Intelligence data, 61% of the people in the world - 3.7 billion men, women, and children - are not served by even the most basic wastewater treatment facility. And 70% of those people are in Asia, where urbanization is most prevalent. When this waste goes untreated it ends up in the drinking water, causing massive health problems and general contamination of potable water. So I learned that to really fix the water scarcity issues, we need to start at the end of the water cycle - after we flush - and not before it enters our home.

I began my career working as strategist and marketer in the internet software sector, and moved on to become a financial analyst, always with the fundamental belief that EVERY problem has a solution... you just need to look at the data to find it. So, as an outsider, when I first started in the water industry, I analyzed the wastewater situation with this same mindset. What I learned is that the fundamental problem was not a lack of financing for infrastructure in poor countries, which was (and is) currently the widespread belief. Rather, the root problem is twofold.

First, the industry standard technology is ugly and smelly, resulting in remotely located treatment facilities and massive amounts ($200-$400B annually) spent on a huge sewage network to bring the waste there, thus making it cost prohibitive to establish wastewater treatment in new places. The solution seemed simple; find a way to design beautiful and odor free facilities for the same cost as the standard, reduce the infrastructure cost massively, and make establishing wastewater treatment more affordable globally. And that is exactly what Organica Water does.

Second, even if a community discovered an economic solution such as Organica, most people in the world – especially in the countries without wastewater treatment – do not have access to the engineering resources required to design and implement one of these facilities. Simply put, they were not playing on the same field as the rest of the world.

When I started to think about how to change things, it brought me back to where it all began. I am born and raised in Philadelphia. We are a city of underdogs. The home of Rocky Balboa and Allen Iverson. And, as any underdog will tell you, all we ask for is a fair game. A fighting chance. Give us a level playing field, and we will find a way.

So the solution was clear: Find a way to level the playing field - to make design and implementation of one of these wastewater treatment facilities accessible to anyone – and you could change the game. And what better way to do that than by leveraging the internet? It is the ultimate equalizer, allowing you to educate people and even design your own facility, all at the click of a button with 24/7/365 access.

The process kicked off earlier this year when we launched Organica Central Station, an online service which began with a broad base of educational content focused on how to design, construct, and operate one of these facilities. But the vision truly became a reality earlier this week, when we launched the DESIGN function. This tool is unlike anything available on the market today, and I believe it will truly revolutionize the way preliminary design is done for engineered solutions in the global infrastructure industry (not just water).

Simply enter basic data about a project, and in less than 48 hours receive a comprehensive custom engineering design for the COMPLETE facility, including mass balance info, flow diagrams, equipment specs, OPEX, and a full set of architectural drawings.

We are NOT claiming this tool will produce a construction-ready design. But we ARE saying this tool will give any industry participant instant access to accurate engineering plans for one of these facilities, which can then be leveraged by the available local engineering capabilities to make the project a reality. So now you don’t need to find a specialist to produce your preliminary design options… it is all there at the click of a button.

Fuller had it right. It’s time for a new model. The playing field is now level. Batter up.