1.1 billion people do not have access to clean water supplies and recent disasters in China and Burma highlight the fleeting stability that even luckier people have. Drinking clean water is a multifacted challenge which requires access to water, transportation and purification. A recent post on Global Voices highlights a number of innovative solutions to this dire problem.

Often, the transportation of water can be a full day’s work involving a many-mile trek with heavy loads of water. The Q-Drum is a simple container which can alleviate this burden.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8sMAolVUEw]

Once water is available for consumption, purity remains a major concern. More than 6,000 people die daily from drinking unsafe water. The LifeStraw is a purification tool which lasts for many uses and cleanses water of all major troubles.

If, however, a water source is available near the homes in the developing world, a clever system call PlayPumps provide a way to tap wells, store water and purify it using children who get to play on it’s rotating wheel.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMs_Z80JYls&eurl]

But, far and away, the most elegant solution highlighted was the Aquaduct. A mobile filtration vehicle, the Aquaduct is a tricycle which both stores and purifies water acquired at a distant source. It’s brilliantly simple and I’d love to hear more about it or other ways to utilize the excess energy created by bicycles which represent an environmentally sound way to travel.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U-mvfjyiao]

What are other daily activities which have externalities waiting to be harnessed for good?