Even in Switzerland, Europe’s water tower, access to drinking water is not always guaranteed. This is particularly true outside built-up areas and in isolated locations that are not connected to the public water supply. To overcome this problem, the RWB Valais team has developed an autonomous filtration unit based on a series of filtration processes (e.g. gravel filtration, sand filtration, slow filtration) for the use of non-potable surface water.

Winner of the BlueArk Challenge, the filter has been adapted and miniaturised to supply water to shepherds’ huts during the summer, with a focus on surface water treatment.

An additional unit was built for the hut to enable shepherds to make water drinkable. An initial module was constructed at the Châteauneuf agricultural school to test the device. It was then deployed on the Giétro mountain pasture in Entremont in autumn 2023, producing up to 100 litres of drinking water per day.