According to the World Health Organization, via UNICEF, some 6,000 children die every day from waterborne illnesses. Furthermore, as The Guardian notes, 1.1 billion people do not have safe water and 2.6 billion suffer from inadequate sewerage. The principle,e cause of death is from diarrhea, the charity WaterAid reports. The most common cause is an infection of the intestines due to either a virus, bacteria, or parasite – a condition also known as gastroenteritis.
Much of the problem, according to the startup WaterChain, lies not in a lack of technology, but due to the funding mechanisms and business processes required to treat more water. WaterChain state this is where the blockchain and tokenization can significantly alter the way the water industry operates.
WaterChain is working on an ICO that will allow crypto investors to stake tokens and facilitate the funding of water recycling projects. With the scheme, anyone willing to participate in an ICO will have the opportunity to purchase tokens and then to reinvest those tokens in the water projects they believe in. The aim is with WaterChain that investors can contribute to solving the global water crisis and get paid for their efforts.
The water technology licensor OriginClear is the public parent company of WaterChain. The company was researching how blockchain could help them track the performance of their intellectual property when they realized that they could create something that would improve their own business and also significantly improve the scale at which water is treated globally.
The CEO of OriginClear, Riggs Eckelberry, discuses WaterChain, further in the following video:
The video is taken from the decentralization conference, d10e, focusing on WaterChain’s vision for decentralized water funding.
Riggs Eckelberry has also said: “The water industry is gearing up for the challenge, and new decentralized, outsourced performance contracts are the wave of the future. WaterChain can make these work.” Through the use of blockchain the initiative aims to create a new funding mechanism for high-technology water treatment facilities.
Here an independent body will use a transparent and fair process to select the best technologies and practices so that these systems will be the best available.
