In 2017, Martin had the opportunity to attend World Water Week, held in Sweden, which is the largest conference and symposium devoted to all aspects of water including sanitation, environmental water as well as safe drinking water for those in need in the world.

There was a very disturbing fact Martin came away with after this week. That even today with the level of technology and ability to provide others with help, there is still more than 785 million people who do not have access to clean or safe drinking water. 

This really hit home with Martin and he decided  to work on a way to simply and  affordably supply safe drinking water to those in need. 

Enter SODIS (solar disinfection)!

Solar disinfection (SODIS) is a process which is the cheapest form of water disinfection on the planet. It freely uses the sun and more importantly the UV rays from the sun, to disinfect the water by killing the harmful bacteria, viruses and microorganisms in the water. 

There are already many millions of people around the world who use SODIS, but there was a problem. How long do you leave the water out in the sun before it is safe to drink? The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations are time based and they say that after 6 hours of exposure, the water should be safe to drink. But we know that the amount of UV in the sun's rays changes during the day. It changes whether there are clouds in the sky and how thick those clouds are. It changes depending on the altitude or place you live on earth and it changes depending on what season, eg: summer or winter time, it is. So it can be unclear whether the SODIS process has actually been achieved or not after 6 hours of sunlight exposure. This fact has significantly held back the use of SODIS around the world because people start to use it but then, when they use it and there hasn’t been enough UV to kill all the “bugs”, the people get sick again and then lose confidence in the process.

Until now.

The SAFE Sticker is able to do this simply.

The SAFE Sticker Pilot Program

In 2021, Martin was awarded the Kenneth Myer Fellowship which allowed him the time and resources to properly investigate, develop and implement the SAFE Sticker. 

The SAFE Sticker was developed and testing was performed in Australia, in India and in laboratories in Spain to show that water was being disinfected. 

In 2022, the SAFE Sticker team performed a pilot project in the Siem Reap area of Cambodia. With the help of people in Cambodia, the team were granted permission and approval to perform testing in the village of Kampong Phluk, Siem Reap, Cambodia with families who were in desperate need of safe drinking water.

Kampong Phluk is a village located close to Tonle Sap Lake. In this region there is no running water, however, people have access to some well water as well as lake water. However the quality of well water and lake water is extremely poor and very biologically contaminated. Drinking the water without some form of purification caused many health problems and potential death through diarrhea, stomach cramps as well as Malaria, Typhoid, Cholera, Giardiasis, Dysentery and Hepatitis A to name a few. As such the need for biologically safe drinking water is imperative.

Over March and April, 2022, the SAFE Sticker team have been working with families in the village, teaching the SODIS method with the SAFE sticker to verify that the water has received enough UV to make it safe to drink.

The process involves a local educator and interpreter who can provide the intricate and local knowledge for translation and an effective method to teach the villagers the correct process.

Over the 2 month period, we chose a number of families to be involved with the pilot project and provided ongoing support and education about the SODIS method and the SAFE Sticker. We also asked questions about how their health has changed over this time with access to safe water as well as other important questions  such as how the use of SODIS has improved things such as life safety by not having to use open fires as much to boil water, especially with small children around. Aspects of improved life quality by not having to spend time collecting firewood, as well as not having to spend the little precious money they make on buying water from the water companies in Siem Reap.

The results have been absolutely outstanding, not only have the families loved the SAFE Sticker and SODIS process but to date nearly all of the initial families are still using the SAFE Stickers. Many more families have asked to join in and have started using the SAFE Stickers as well.

This was an exciting time for the SAFE Sticker team as we understood that our vision had been realised, in that we were finally able to really help those in need of safe drinking water and that the SAFE Sticker has the potential to help millions globally around the world.