Clean drinking water is a basic right of every human being, but it is unfortunately still considered a luxury in some developing parts of the world. Ensuring that something as basic as safe and clean water drinking water reaches every community, no matter how remote or difficult it is to reach, is a non-profit organization called OHorizons. It identifies itself to the world as an international coalition of innovators who are all working towards the sole aim of solving persistent global challenges.

New York-based OHorizons' latest product of hard work Wood Mold is a classic example of high-tech vision of open-source software meeting low-tech design. This open-source product gives even the least experienced person on the planet the power and opportunity to create a BioSand Filter themselves that can deliver clean water at a cost which is 1/10th of what a traditional method normally costs. OHorizons lay extra focus on the Wood Mold's design so that it can be easily accessed by anyone who has the DIY, open-source construction manual that the company makes available online absolutely free of cost.

[caption id="attachment_111831" align="aligncenter" width="700"]img_8231 Image - Ohorizons.org[/caption]

OHorizons' entire team, which consists of highly trained and creative technical, social, and commercial professionals, aims to create applications that are simple at heart, extremely easy to implement and less tech based. This is mainly because they want to empower even remotest of the remotest communities without needing any external expertise or capital. During the designing process of their products, OHorizons diligently follows a certain set of principles so as to make sure that they're readily adopted by everyone in any part of the world. The design needs to be locally sourced, low-cost, simple to use and understand, open-source, and easily be able to fulfil the needs of various communities. This line of thought was also made use of while coming up with Wood Mold. It doesn't require any technical, literacy skills, or even electricity to function or assemble. One just needs to get hold of its blueprint, which is available for free online.

In its effort to ensure that the benefits reaches to all, OHorizons joins hands with local organizations that are already working for local community development. For example, it has collaborated with LEDARS Bangladesh, which promotes the construction and distribution of the OHorizons Wood Mold manual in Bangladesh. Based on the current success rate of Wood Mold BioSand filters in the country, OHorizons has set a goal of providing 1 million Bangladeshis with safe drinking water access by the year 2021. Apart from Bangladesh, the New York-based company is also supporting projects in Mali, Ecuador, and Kenya.

According to data made available by the company, over the past one and a half year, more than 400 people/organisations have downloaded and made use of OHorizons' Wood Mold Construction Manual to make themselves their very own locally sourced BioSand filters for the purposes of having clean water access. As a result of this, so far in the year 2016, over 5,500 people have gained access to sustainable safe drinking water in their houses.
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