There are nearly 160 million people around the world who depend on untreated water from rivers, lakes, ponds, streams and a significant percentage of these also wash their clothes in it. A bottled water company in Peru called Andea, has partnered with a creative agency, Fahrenheit DDB, to create a laundry soap that helps to keep rivers clean by releasing microorganisms after it has been used to wash clothing.
Andea partnered with scientists who found a microorganism with a probiotic function that feeds on water pollutants. Introducing these microorganisms in bars of soap, AWA soap improves the quality of water when washing clothes, by reducing the levels of nitrate and ammonia, which are responsible for spreading bacteria that affect humans. The microorganisms are freed when the bar of soap is used, attaching to the rocks and river weeds and stay in the water even after the washing is complete and suds disperse.
According to Andea, water samples were taken before and after the soap was used indicated that water quality improved by up to 75 per cent. After a pilot project to test the soap, the partners now hope to convince soap manufacturers to incorporate the technology:
“NOW THAT WE HAVE CONFIRMED ITS EFFECTIVENESS, OUR GOAL IS TO TRANSFER THE RIGHTS OF THE FORMULA TO A MAJOR SOAP MANUFACTURER, OR EVEN GOVERNMENT SOCIAL PROGRAMS, SO IT CAN REACH AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE."
You can request the formula for AWA soap here.