Safe Water Cube: working together to supply drinking water everywhere

Jean-Paul Augereau ran three companies and his work took him all over the world. However, when he drank dirty water in Egypt, he contracted septicaemia which resulted in an aortic valve replacement. This incident changed his attitude to life, and he decided to direct his energy towards finding a way of supplying clean drinking water to populations where it did not exist. He designed the Safe Water Cube fountain, a simple system which is easy to use and long-lasting. It can supply 1,000 people, and can be installed by two or three technicians, selected by the village chief, and paid for by all the villagers. In 2016, he created an endowment fund and the ‘Agir Ensemble’ association in order to help to finance and install the fountains. By the end of 2018, a total of 180,000 people had benefitted from the 180 fountains installed. The plan is to install a further 500 fountains every year. The association also operates in the areas of education, health, and agriculture with the aim of stemming rural exodus, and is currently increasing the number of partnerships in order to grow more rapidly.