May is Autodesk’s annual Global Month of Impact. The Impact Team here in the Portland office held 3 sessions assembling water filters to be shipped around the globe to those that need them to filter water for drinking.

47 awesome Autodesk Portland employees participated!

60 filters were completed that will provide 10,000 gallons of clean water a year for up to 10 years and Sawyer the manufacturer says possibly 30 years. Our team will be indirectly responsible for providing over 6 million gallons of clean water.

When you add up all participating Autodesk office employees it will be a lot of clean filtered water and immeasurable in the impact to peoples lives.

Portland Impact team members that participated in the event:

Anton
Clare
Donna
Michelle (amazing job leading the sessions)
Shaan (me and assisted in the 3 sessions)

For those wondering why Wine to Water is their name, but there was no wine involved?

About Wine to Water
Wine to Water

Wine To Water is an international non-profit organization committed to serving in community to provide clean water to those in need. Doc Hendley is the founder and  went to Sudan in 2004, established Wine To Water as an organization in 2007, and became a CNN Hero in 2009. Wine to Water has reached 500,000+ people across 25 countries with access to clean drinking water.

About the Filters
It is a simple filter. Uses the same technology as kidney dialysis, which is pretty simple. Inside the filter, there are hollow tubes and inside the tubes, even smaller 0.1 micron holes which only allow clean water to pass through.

Filtration Rate:

• Filters 1 liter of water per minute and can filter up to 1,000 liters a day.
• The Filter Lifespan is 100,000 gallons.
• Filters out bacteria, solid, turbidity, etc. It does not filter out chemicals like water with gasoline or salt water.

Filter Impact:

• It is super easy to maintain!
• It is an easily transportable, simple technology that gives clean water immediately in disaster settings.
• Helps build the resilience of a community.
• Use this filter in disaster settings where people need clean water immediately, in hard to reach areas , or refugee camps where settlement is not permanent.

Where have the deployed filters gone? 

Uganda, Cuba, Nepal, 2017 Caribbean Hurricane Relief, the Amazon.

Here are some photos and a special video of some participants on the deck of the new Portland office. We even had volunteers drink filtered muddy water of suspect origins.

Autodesk, Make Anything – including a Global Impact!

Cheers,
Shaan