Grupo Argos Foundation • News • Sustainability

Grupo Argos Foundation and Ekofil present the results of their partnership to provide potable water solutions at the World Water Congress held in Rwanda, Africa

13 December 2023
  • This is the seventh edition of this event, which brings together more than 1,000 participants, including experts and private, social, and governmental organizations from around the world, to discuss opportunities in water and basic sanitation.
  • Grupo Argos Foundation and Ekofil are the only Latin American organizations present at the event. As part of their commitment to contribute to water security in the regions, Grupo Argos Foundation has the Aquavida program, which seeks to deliver cost-efficient potable water solutions in rural areas of the country that do not have access to this resource.
  • For this program, the Foundation has worked in coordination with Ekofil, a Valle del Cauca-based enterprise that developed an innovative water purification system using a clay filter that can reduce the presence of bacteria in water by up to 98%.
  • Aquavida has benefited more than 75,000 people through its portfolio of potable water solutions, improving their quality of life by providing access to clean and safe water for consumption.

Grupo Argos Foundation continues to strengthen its leadership as an organization capable of developing projects that generate well-being for communities, as demonstrated by its participation in the latest edition of the World Water Congress 2023. The event, which started yesterday in Rwanda, Africa, is one of the main global stages for setting an agenda around the world’s challenges in potable water and sanitation, and additionally represents an opportunity to present innovations for achieving climate resilience.

“For Grupo Argos Foundation, it is a source of pride to be part of one of the main global stages for discussing the challenges we share as humanity in terms of water and to present the progress of the work we have carried out with great allies such as Ekofil to deliver potable water solutions to rural communities in Colombia.”

 

Maria Camila Villegas                                     Executive Director Grupo Argos Foundation

Grupo Argos Foundation and Ekofil are showcasing the progress and achievements of the implementation of the Aquavida program, led by the Foundation, which aims to contribute to water security in the rural areas of the country and has so far reached a record number of over 35,000 people benefited with access to safe water. This program is developed in close collaboration with Ekofil, which developed an innovative water purification system using a clay filter that can reduce the presence of bacteria by up to 98%. With more than 1,000 participants including experts and private, social, and governmental organizations, both entities are the only Latin American representatives at the event.

About Aquavida

Over more than three years of work, the water security program of Grupo Argos Foundation is based on a comprehensive methodology that allows identifying the needs for water, sanitation, and hygiene in the territories and the state of families, educational sites, and their water quality. To date, the Foundation has
benefited more than 75,000 people through its portfolio of potable water solutions, improving their quality of life by providing access to clean and safe water for consumption.

Aquavida has a portfolio including clay filters, water trees (structures that purify this resource in
large quantities, holding up to 1,500 liters), and ekomuros (a system that captures rainwater and through a set of internal filters cleans the water). By 2030, the Foundation hopes to reduce the deficit of access to safe water for 500,000 people in Colombia.

About Ekofil

Since 2010, this Valle del Cauca-based company has led the implementation of methodologies and new
products that seek to recover ancestral knowledge to promote the self-governance of water and promote portable technology that does not require connections to electricity, aqueducts, or infrastructure. Under this idea, water filters made of clay, colloidal silver, and activated carbon were developed, elements that allow processing raw water from any source and transforming it into safe water for human consumption.