- One constant across many refugee camps are the miles and miles of tents that they dole out - One constant across many refugee camps are the miles to the hundreds of thousands of refugees per camp, - One constant across many refugee camps are the miles and I thought, "All this space is going to waste."

- One constant across many refugee camps are the miles - And our solution is provide clean drinking water to anyone - One constant across many refugee camps are the miles who lives in an informal settlement across the world.

- It's something that really seems very simple.

who lives in an informal settlement across the world.

Like, the simplicity isn't really borne of a lack of investment, it's really borne of over-investment, trying to cut out all you can to make this thing as cheap as possible, as small as possible, as simple as possible.

Part of the necessity for that is making sure that it's simple and it works.

- [Joshua] This was the starting point for LivingWaters.

(classical piano music) - I come from a family background of musicians.

I have, for many years, been a sort of student aficionado with the piano.

I've been very, very much a serious student of classical music, still to this day, I think.

My dad's a musician with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

of classical music, still to this day, I think.

He's a violist and a violinist there and my mom works at an energy company.

So, like, they're very different worlds they come, but they've always been the support and the backbone behind like the kind of whimsical projects that I take on.

but they've always been the support and the backbone I'm very grateful for that support.

but they've always been the support and the backbone I was actually homeschooled first couple of years.

That's sort of where I think I was actually homeschooled first couple of years.

I got the entrepreneurial drive from because I was able to look at things from different angles, I got the entrepreneurial drive from and, like, over time it took on different forms, like doing these, like, hardware projects, and, like, over time it took on different forms, this is something that I was occupied by in my college years.

How my childhood shaped me was through introducing me to, like, creative projects and sort of creating that drive to do more.

You could say LivingWaters is definitely not an exception to that.

You could say LivingWaters is definitely Sort of late in my sophomore year of college, I was working on projects having to do with, like, horticulture solutions, like irrigation kits for vulnerable populations and in the process I did quite a bit of research into the refugee crisis.

After that project never really got anywhere, I had all this, like, research After that project never really got anywhere, and one constant across many refugee camps are the miles and miles of tents that they dole out to the hundreds of thousands of refugees per camp are the miles and miles of tents that they dole out and I thought it's not being used to capture the rainfall that falls on the tent.

and like the rain just goes into the drain, and it's not salvaged.

So right now we create portable guttering systems for refugees living in what are called tent cities.

We thought, given that water is such a scarce resource in refugee camps, especially because they're so ofF-grid, why not use their living quarters to collect clean water, clean rainwater, rather.

why not use their living quarters to collect clean water, So that's where the idea for LivingWaters came up.

We currently have two people who are actively involved.

So that's where the idea for LivingWaters came up.

One is Joseph, who's my chief engineer.

- So what I do is basically, Josh is the one that designed the initial system, - So what I do is basically, and I help sort of take what was originally a prototype, - So what I do is basically, a sort of bar napkin sketch, and bring that into the real world by swapping out and building a lot of the features and bring that into the real world that were supposed to be implemented and trying to bring them into reality.

So... - [Joshua] And another's my brother Caleb.

He works primarily in the financial side of the company.

- My role is to work with my brother to come up with a way to grow and fund LivingWaters in a way that is sustainable.

I manage the day-to-day finances, in a way that is sustainable.

as well as the planning around where we're gonna get our funding and how we're gonna spend it.

as well as the planning around where we're gonna - [Joshua] Umair is somebody that I've worked with on different projects over the course - [Joshua] Umair is somebody that I've worked with of my time here at Rutgers.

- So what I do with business development is the people part, right?

- So what I do with business development is the people part, Really part of my job is to go out there - So what I do with business development is the people part, and be like, "What is our business?"

How are we going to scale our organization?

And which institutions and individuals are How are we going to scale our organization?

gonna help us get there?

How are we going to scale our organization?

- Sakshi also has been heavily involved How are we going to scale our organization?

in socializing LivingWaters.

How are we going to scale our organization?

She actually led a pilot project that we recently did in India, She actually led a pilot project where we went out to visit urban slums and we talked to urban slum dwellers where we went out to visit urban slums about conditions within their camps, which are very similar to refugee camps.

Through our research we found that these refugee camps, which are isolated from general civilization, they rely almost solely on what are called water tankers, which are trucks that truck in water a long distance to the refugee camps.

This is a highly irregular process and it requires, like, many trips to get enough water there.

And so refugees in turn have to then forage for their daily intake of clean water.

So they go through these really highly unsanitary open water sources to gather enough water So they go through these really highly unsanitary for themselves and their families.

At LivingWaters we aim to supplement this need by providing a clean source of water, At LivingWaters we aim to supplement this need right at the doorstep, through our portable guttering systems.

The initial obstacle is how to actually strap filtration system to tent.

The design I ended up devising was a suspension, a design which allows the soft-body guttering system to bend around the eaves of the tent without actually acting as an additional weight to bend around the eaves of the tent against the tent.

That's where ultimately the innovation lies within our product.

- It's a simpler product by nature, so it's a lot of iteration.

What you have is a lot of tweaking.

And it'll be me and Joshua going back and forth What you have is a lot of tweaking.

on different designs for clamping mechanisms.

How do we actually fix this part to the tent?

on different designs for clamping mechanisms.

You know, create different, okay, we're gonna mount the rope here and here.

It's like, I'll do a lot of the design of the solid work.

we're gonna mount the rope here and here.

He'll actually attempt to take the prints, put it on the prototypes.

"Oh, this doesn't work.

That might work."

- As we scale up, of course we're gonna be looking "Oh, this doesn't work.

That might work."

for larger manufacturing and tooling, larger funding sources potentially through venture capitalists.

- [Umair] How do you get support for your solution?

through venture capitalists.

Through going to competitions, through going to these different sponsored events that people are trying to support ideas and game-changing innovations for.

that people are trying to support ideas When I mean accelerator or incubator, those are two programs that basically ventures go through When I mean accelerator or incubator, to keep growing in an environment where they're getting the right support, the right mentorship, the right teaching, and the right decisions being made the right mentorship, the right teaching, about growing the organization by growing the product forward.

So one of the things we did, back in March, was we went to Minnesota and pitched at e-Fest.

There we were selected as one of the top 25 teams from all of the United States There we were selected as one of the top 25 teams for presenting undergraduate student business ideas to see if we can raise a couple of the funding prizes that they were giving out.

to see if we can raise a couple of the funding prizes That was a great, transformative experience, because we got to meet really great individuals.

That was a great, transformative experience, - [Joshua] And they've been very helpful That was a great, transformative experience, in, like, socializing our brand through various interviews.

That was a great, transformative experience, And through being one of the winners there, we got a lot of contacts and helpful points of reference as a result of our participation there.

So right now we're focusing on deploying our units inside of a refugee camp, ideally in the next couple of months.

our units inside of a refugee camp, We're currently looking at the Venezuelan refugee situation, and a lot of the camps that are currently being constructed are in Colombia.

So we're currently looking to partner with organizations that'll help ensure a smooth rollout of our products there.

- [Joseph] We hope that the second pilot actually completed in a camp of some sort would give us the case studies needed to sort of show that this a product that can actually save them money, this a product that can actually make a difference.

The promise of this project actually working and becoming something that exists out in the field is enough to make you driven to actually accomplish whatever work it is that needs to be done at that moment.

- [Umair] To change not just only refugees' lives that needs to be done at that moment.

around the world, but anyone who lives in an informal settlement across the world.

Together I think if we scale to one pilot to actually scaling out our device to, you know, hundreds of thousands of people at a camp, that's gonna be our vision realized and our mission realized, that's gonna be our vision realized and we're gonna keep going.

that's gonna be our vision realized If we can help people get access to cleaner water, just off of rain, If we can help people get access then that's our solution fulfilled.

(dramatic orchestral music)