Tackling water pollution at the grassroot level

There are a large percentage of small-scale artisanal entities across the globe which have no access to any kind of wastewater treatment. Forcing them to discharge the water into surrounding natural water bodies, further contaminating them on a massive scale. With Indus, we aim to empower these local communities to regenerate water locally for reuse within their manufacturing processes. Tackling the problem of water pollution at the root. By using an off-grid system that performs a completely biological process, challenging the ways with which we interact with our existing surroundings and our natural resources. The tiles can be made by the artisans themselves from locally available methods of fabrication, assembling them into a wall as big or as small depending on the space available.

Empowering communities, spreading awareness creating new forms of employment opportunities

Just the way we all have preferred cuisines, different species of algae like to eat different types of heavy metals. Allowing Indus to be tailor-made to suit the manufacturing process and the relative pollutants identified in the polluted water. Further, the microalgae containing biomaterial will need to be replenished from time to time, just like the cartridges in a water filter. Therefore, through community engagement workshops, we will educate the local artisans, their wife and even their children, with the techniques of preparing and maintaining their own algae-gel solution - creating new forms of employment opportunities. Indus is a system integrated with biology, that makes human interaction and human involvement a key factor, especially in the current climate crisis.

Designing living systems for the circular economy

The algae will either break down the pollutants into a completely harmless state. Or they can be extracted from the gel and brought back into the system for creating other valuable products, closing the loop. The construction of Indus will also create an interdependent network - between the local tile artisan and the biomaterial supplier, allowing them to maintain their systems locally - giving shape to a truly circular economy. Indus uses the resources and techniques readily available to our artisans. While still managing to introduce futuristic techniques of wastewater treatment. A system that performs naturally, transitioning the artisans linear process into one of a circular economy. By converting one species trash into another's treasure.