Penn alums develop more sustainable water bottle

A student on the run might not have the patience to wait for water to filter before filling a reusable bottle, but two recent alumni have designed a solution.

Aakash Mathur, a 2009 Wharton alumnus, and Jay Parekh, a 2009 Engineering alumnus, are developing the prototype of the reusable Hydros Bottle. The bottle purifies water within about 20 seconds of being filled.

Mathur said they hope the bottle will help address the global water crisis and reduce the use of disposable water bottles. But they also just think it is convenient.

“I personally got sick of wasting tons of money on bottled water at Mark’s Café,” said Mathur.

He came up with the concept while still at Penn and taking Wharton professor Ian MacMillan’s MGMT 212: Societal Wealth Venturing course. He quickly joined up with Parekh, who was working on a similar project for the Dell Social Innovation Competition.

Their research found that many areas even in the United States have poor-quality tap water, Mathur explained. As a result, they plan to initially release the Hydros bottle in the United States.

“People often talk about the global water crisis as involving rural residents in places like Africa and South America. However, there are so many people in the cities of developing countries that either buy water, boil water, install expensive filtration systems or just drink polluted water,” Parekh said. “We feel like there is an economically and socially sustainable opportunity to provide these people with a mobile point of use filtration device.”

The Hydros Bottle purifies water with a filter that doesn’t restrict its flow and lasts for roughly 200 refills, or around 3 to 4 months.

Parekh and Mathur plan to sell replacement filters for about $6. Each Hydros bottle will be able to hold about 24 fluid ounces and will be embedded with antimicrobial enhancement to prevent the bottle from smelling.

The filtration component “will definitely be an incentive for people to use it,” said College junior Jenna Stahl, who is on the Penn Environmental Group’s executive board. “Some people claim that water in water bottles is better because it’s purified in some way and tap water isn’t, and this is a good way to confront that line of thought.”

Parekh, the former president of Penn’s Engineers Without Borders, said he hopes to fund the group’s sustainable water project in developing countries.

But Parekh and Mathur also had to keep an eye on their own funding.

In May, Parekh and Mathur entered the Wharton Venture Initiation Program, which helps students implement their business ideas. They also plan to apply for Weiss Tech House funding.

They are selling the bottle online for $25 and will offer free filters and free shipping to Penn students. They expect to begin shipping their product by December.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.