That’s what Mark Hogg, CEO and founder of WaterStep, saw when his Louisville-based nonprofit in Mocoa, Columbia. The disaster had also affected the city’s infrastructure, limiting access to safe drinking water. 

“The only thing that we saw was our bleach maker being able to make a difference,” he said.

The machine can produce medical-grade bleach on-site using a car battery as a power source. But those batteries are bulky, and need to be constantly recharged. 

WaterStep enlisted a cross-disciplinary team of engineers and designers enrolled in Dr. ’s design course at the University of Louisville’s J.B. Speed School of Engineering, along with business students at Bellarmine University, to develop a tool that could use a solar panel instead of a car battery.

Under the name “Sun Bleach,” the students developed the product alongside WaterStep’s own engineering team. Other students developed marketing materials and a business plan, which made a strong showing in the statewide entrepreneurship competition, .

WaterStep now plans to incorporate the bleach maker into another project called the “Water on Wheels,” or the “W.O.W.” The tool-laden cart aims to allow people in disaster areas or developing countries to manufacture both safe drinking water and medical-grade bleach. 

But design student Emily Braun said the implications of improving access to safe, sanitary water and bleach stretch far beyond a class project or competition — it’s about saving lives. 

“I know I am just a small pawn in this big game,” she said. “And to be able to work with these people who are implementing this type of change is incredible.” 

UofL connects campus with industry to solve problems and create experiential learning opportunities through its Institute for Product Realization. 

“We have to go at this entire project as a whole in order to be successful,” said Andrew Callahan, a mechanical engineering student who helped lead the product’s research and development.

More information about this project is included in the video below: 

Classes at the UofL Hite Art Institute have found many ways to incorporate these tools, available on-campus in the GE Appliances-backed FirstBuild makerspace and microfactory. The printmaking studio, for example, has used the facility’s equipment to cut stones used in the printing process. 

“It’s pretty limitless,” said Rachel Singel, an assistant professor at Hite. “It’s just real … a dream to have those facilities available,” she said, adding that it allows students to experiment with new tools and broaden their perspectives by working with people in other fields.

Another instructor, Power Designer-in-Residence Leslie Friesen, used FirstBuild to teach design. She brought her class there to produce 3-D elements for a project, in part, to give them experience with different equipment, materials and methods of production.

“I think it’s really nice having the engineers and the designers work together,” said Amber Kleitz, a student in the design class. “Having all of these different facets of my design career, even as a student, I feel that I can show how versatile I am.”