Videos

CNN "Innovators" - Susan Murcott
The CNN series "Innovators" spotlights MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Senior Lecturer Susan Murcott and her work to bring clean water to developing countries. It highlights the innovation of the Kanchan™ Arsenic Filter, which she, together with a team of Nepali partners and a former student, Tommy Ngai, invented in 2002. The Kanchan™ filter removes both arsenic and microbial contamination from drinking water is one example of the pioneering work she and others are engaged in - the design and dissemination of household drinking water treatment and safe storage systems - a new cluster of innovative technologies to bring safe water to people everywhere.

Dubai World Expo 2020: Connecting Minds, Creating the Future
This video on Ecofiltro, Guatemala and Pure Home Water, Ghana highlight two examples of the 52 ceramic pot filter factories in 31 countries around the world (which began 14 years ago as one modest factory in Managua, Nicaragua). These clean water efforts represent two among five projects showcased at the Dubai Expo 2020 theme symposium on October. 22-24, 2013 as part of Expo Live. Expo Live, one important part of the Dubai’s World Expo 2020,  is intended to be a significant new source of solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. With it’s theme of Connecting Minds, Creating the Future, Dubai will host Expo 2020, emphasizing the importance of partnerships and innovation as our best hope to build a sustainable world today and in the future.  We are excited that Dubai Expo 2020 has chosen safe water, sanitation and hygiene projects as among those deemed worthy to bring to global attention.

Pure Home Water, Tamale, Ghana

World Water
Technology for Life is a series of videos produced by the Faraday Institution of Educational Technology (IET) to expose students in the U.K and beyond to cutting edge work in science and engineering and the careers of people engaged in these disciplines.  This episode focuses attention on the “World Water” and how what we might take for granted in our everyday lives, safe water, has huge impacts on those who lack it. 
Selected film footage provided by Global Water Trust and Rob Kramer - all rights reserved 2008.

The Nepal Water Project

First Days - First Household Drinking Water Treatment Systems in Nepal
The MIT Nepal Water Project – first  days of the first MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering Masters of Engineering field project that had a low-tech, small-scale, safe drinking water in the developing world focus. We had two teams of students. One was the “water quality testing” team, and the other was the “treatment technologies” team. This film was shot by UNICEF and captures the early efforts of the “treatment technologies” to investigate coagulation, filtration and solar disinfection (because chlorine was not available in the marketplace). This was in January 2000.

Clean Water for 1+ Billion People
Video Courtesy of The Museum of Science CLEAN WATER FOR BILLIONS! Safe Sanitation for 2.4 Billion People! Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries Project.

The Nepal Water Project - MIT Graduation Video (2003)
In Nepal, one in ten children die before the age of five. Preventable water-borne diseases are the leading cause of childhood death. This statistic is shocking for those of us in the West who take clean water for granted. The Nepal Water Project came about when the plight of Nepali children was brought to the attention of Susan Murcott, Lecturer, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Masters of Engineering Program.
In response, Susan organized a team of seven Masters of Engineering students to assess the water quality of selected urban and rural locations in Nepal and to recommend point-of-use household water treatment methods to decrease the incidence of waterborne diseases. The team spent the 1999-2000 academic year studying this subject as their thesis project. They spent three weeks during January 20000 in the Terai and Hill region of Nepal collecting and analyzing water samples, evaluating water treatment methods, and investigating water supply systems and water culture in Nepal.
This story takes place in village of Kusadevi, Kavre District. Three MIT students in the water treatment group, Kim Luu, Junko Sagara and Amer Khayyat, appear in the video. The group demonstrated treatment options and obtained feedback from local women sanitation workers.

Arsenic Poisoning and the Kanchan™ Arsenic Filter
Over 200 million people worldwide  are affected by arsenic contaminated drinking water. Arsenic contamination is particularly severe in a number of countries in Asia. A partnership between MIT and Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO), a Nepali environmental non-profit organization, have led to the invention and wide dissemination of  the Kanchan™ Arsenic Filter in Nepal.  This video shows the successful implementation of the filter.  This 15 minute documentary is an excerpt of a longer film “Arsenic: The Largest Mass Poisoning in History.” Produced by Global Water Trust all rights reserved 2008

"Sloan 50th Anniversary - the MIT Arsenic Filter"
Session: The Next Technological Revolution: Predicting the Technical Future and its Impact on Firms, Organizations and Ourselves. Faculty leader: Rebecca Henderson