WOTA Corp exhibits its shower package with a water recycling system, Wota Box, and its shower tent. (Image via Response.jp)

Wota Box, a Japanese oasis in times of natural disaster

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Business & Industry
Sci-Tech
Oct 14, 2019
2634
As the Japanese are facing a health and sanitation crisis amid the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis, start-up companies across Japan are trying to tackle the issue. WOTA Corp, a start-up proposed by the University of Tokyo, was one of these start-ups.

Aligning with the guidelines of Cabinet’s evacuation management guidelines, WOTA Corp believes that water – as important as mankind itself – should be available for everyone, everywhere, and every time.

WOTA Corp had developed a wastewater recycling system in a package for bathing. The system is called “Wota Box”, “Wota” as the katakana spelling for “Water”. The system uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. For its filters, Wota Box is equipped with a reverse osmosis membrane and the famous charcoal filter.

With the smart tech and filters, Wota Box is capable of recycling dirty, mudded water at 98% of purity. Coming as a full shower package with Water Heater, Shower Tent, and Changing Tent, Wota Corp has contributed to keeping sanitation for the victims of a natural disaster where clean water is limited.

With the only 100L of water, Wota Box can optimize the short amount of water to provide showers for 100 people. An average person needs 40L – 50L water for showering.

While it made its way to the headlines, Wota Box is not a new product by WOTA Corp. Wota Box has proved its usefulness by helping the evacuees of the Kumamoto Earthquake in 2016, major Japan floods and the Iburi earthquake in Eastern Hokkaido both in 2018. WOTA Corp recorded that more than 300 people had used their package.

WOTA Corp sells the shower package at ¥5 million. Starting February 2019, WOTA Corp had been accepting pre-orders for Wota Box and the shower package.

OTHER WATERY START-UPS

Another start-up in Japan had already developed a system for recycling water for drinking. Called Aquatechnology-plus, the Wakayama-based start-up produces a water purifier and a 150L storage tank made of stainless steel.

While the storage tank stores tap water from the water purifier for a daily drink, in times of natural disaster, a valve in the purifier is shut to prevent any mudded water from entering the storage tank. It is sold at ¥600,000.

The other start-up comes from Yokohama. The idea is almost similar to WOTA Corp, to keep the evacuees clean. Trife Inc. created OralPeace for cleaning the oral cavity during a disaster. While Aquatechnology-plus and WOTA Corp wants to purify water for showering and drinking, OralPeace aims to clean the oral cavity without water.

Originally, OralPeace is meant to be used for people with disabilities and elderly people who have trouble gargling or spitting. Made from plant-based ingredients, OralPeace is hypoallergenic, safe-to-swallow, and pneumonia-free.

OralPeace is sold in two forms; gel and spray at ¥1,320 and ¥1,100, respectively. The product once contributed in Kumamoto Earthquake in 2016, and the recent Typhoon Faxai in September.

Source: https://bit.ly/2OKz2xp

Business , Mitigation , Sanitary , Water , Disaster , Asia , Japan , Recycle , Water-Purifier