Brazilian innovator scales solar water purifier to serve tens of thousands

At age 15, Anna Luisa Beserra invented Aqualuz, a solar-driven system that kills microorganisms in harvested rainwater without chemicals or elaborate filtration. Targeted at households relying on cisterns in Brazil's semi-arid regions, the affordable unit can operate for up to two decades. By 2024 the technology was serving more than 40,000 people, up from an initial 10,000 beneficiaries.

Beserra, a biotechnology graduate of the Federal University of Bahia, founded Safe Drinking Water for All to commercialize Aqualuz and other solutions like Aquasalina, Aquafilter and Aquatorre, while empowering local technicians to manage installations. She emphasizes hands-on community engagement as essential to designing effective water solutions. Her work has earned recognition from the UN, UNESCO and MIT, and she aims to roll out the technologies across Latin America, Africa and Asia.