Noemi Florea: Greywater you can drink

At a rural health centre in the Dusti District of Tajikistan, Noemi Florea kneels beside a washstand to install a shiny, chrome-coloured filtration unit. The device, which Florea invented, will collect water that runs down the washstand drain, clean it and pipe it back to the tap. The water is pure enough to drink, making the machine a rarity in a region where water treatment is sporadic.  

“Access to safe water and sanitation is critical for human health and well-being,” says Florea, 25. “Without access to clean tap water, a community can’t thrive.”  

The filtration unit has been piloted around the world, from a public bottle filling station in the United States of America to schools along the Tajikistan–Afghanistan border. 

See Noemi Florea’s profile