Excerpted from The Kier Chronicle with no byline
As our climate rapidly declines, desert areas in Sub-Saharan Africa have become increasingly drier over the years, with little to no rainfall during the monsoon seasons, when they typically expect to receive the bulk of the year's water supply. The frequent droughts have dramatically limited the amount of clean drinkable water in these areas.
After attending a conference in South Africa, Jame Eagan, Lumon's current CEO, decided to extend his stay and visit a village that has been negatively affected by this crisis. Eagen went to Libono, located in the northern part of Lesotho. Libono is one of the driest areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, and its people are dependent on a rationed community water tank. This tank relies on the rain collected from the monsoon season, which means in times of drought, the people are forced to drink water full of impurities.
This depleted tank is also worn, its lining composed of a harmful plastic material that has been slowly decaying over time and more rapidly due to the oppressive heat. These particles have been deteriorating into the water tank, increasing the acidity of the already far from alkaline water, causing many people dependent on the tank to get sick.
When the tank's water supply is stretched for weeks at a time until the tank can be refilled by the government, the people in these areas are forced to choose between drinking water and bathing themselves.
After Jame Eagan returned from his trip, he knew that Lumon had the capabilities and the resources to do something to help better the quality of these people's lives. The CEO took the proactive route and created a new department, dedicated to developing solutions to the clean water crisis. Jame Eagan appointed a new department chief to closely oversee the department's progress.
To expedite the department's progress, the CEO diversified the team's focus. One side was dedicated to engineering the filtration and piping systems; the other was biochemical engineering devoted to creating an organic additive that would be able to raise the pH balance to increase the water's alkalinity. The water in that area and many other tends to fall closer to the acidic end of the pH scale.
Fortuitously, only a few short months after the department's creation, the engineering faction successfully developed an innovative filtration process. This filtration removes 99.1% of impurities, which far surpasses any existing filtration technologies currently available. This technology, dubbed klear, the first of its kind, can now make otherwise undrinkable water safe.
The engineers also developed a plumbing system that makes it possible to pump water from groundwater sources that had previously been too far to reach. The department's other half, the biochemical engineers, made a breakthrough a few weeks later. They developed a sodium bicarbonate-based (more commonly known as household baking soda) additive.This organic additive, referred to as Tumwater, safely raises the pH balance, thus increases the alkalinity of the water.
Once production and testing were complete, Lumon began installing the pipework from the nearest groundwater supply to Libono nearly 500 miles away, making it one of the longest underground water pipeway systems in the world
Once the piping was complete, they began the filtration center build. The filtration center is only 5 short miles outside the village, making more accessible for deliveries and routine maintenance. During the filtration process, the water passes through a series of patented filters to remove nearly all impurities. In the same filtration center, Tumwater is then introduced to the decontaminated water. Once the Tumwater has been added, the water pH rises to nine, making it a safe alkalinity for people to drink.
After these processes are complete, the water is then piped to the village into Lumon wells throughout the village. It has been six months since Lumon installed this filtration in Libono. Since its induction, villagers are no longer dehydrated, they are thriving. The instances of hypernatremia have entirely diminished, and the cases of dysentery are now at a record low.
To further ensure Libono's survival, Lumon has planned to bring a charter school to the area with the hope of opening it by the end of the year. This school will be free to all students, and teachers will be brought it from other existing Lumon charter schools in the United States. Lumon has already successfully created more than 20 charter schools across the country. But this will mark the first Lumon sponsored school outside the U.S.
Jame Eagan believes that education is paramount and is dedicated to bringing it to people who would otherwise never have one. They plan to start introducing klear to the areas surrounding Libono in a few short months. With the expansion of the piping system, Lumon looks to then…