Potable water produced with sunlight and soil moisture. Watercones at work.

The inventor of the Watercone® is Stephan Augustin, an industrial designer by trade who is a vehicle designer at BMW. He was inspired to tackle the issue by the dramatic worldwide shortage of clean drinking water. "Numerous business trips brought me into direct contact with the water shortage problem. Based on my experience as a designer, I hit upon the idea of developing a simple product that could help alleviate this desperate situation," explains Augustin.
 
Many people in developing countries drink contaminated water, and they get sick or even die from it. "As an alternative to expensive drinking water desalination and filtering plants, which require complex maintenance and technical knowledge, I wanted to design a simple, lightweight, cheap and mass-produced product that could provide a minimum supply of water. I also wanted a product that people, even children, can easily learn to use and that requires neither electricity or any other source of power." The result of his efforts is the Watercone®.

Augustin found a manufacturing partner in the toolmaking and mechanical engineering firm ZELTEC Distributions GmbH of Cologne, Germany, which was immediately interested in his idea. "My current partner, Zeltec, is a young, innovative company with courage and ideals. It supports new, sustainable and innovative products, as well as fledgling designers. The people at Zeltec gave me the strength and reassurance I needed to carry on," says Augustin.
 
In the beginning, the greatest challenge was finding the best material. "We knew from the outset that the cone material would be exposed to innumerable hardships, such as intense sunlight, children and transportion. In-depth research made it obvious to us that Makrolon® polycarbonate the high-tech plastic from Bayer MaterialScience, was the only choice. "Its qualities impressed us immediately," says Mirco I. Richardson, marketing director at Zeltec. "Thanks to Makrolon®, the Watercone is lightweight, transparent and virtually unbreakable."

The inventor has received so much encouragement from enthusiastic experts that he has already applied for a patent for his invention.
Stephan Augustin, his production partner ZELTEC Distributions, and its affiliate ZELTEC Engineering have even won several awards for the design of the unusual water device, including the internationally recognized if Design Award in Hannover, Germany, and the IDEA/IDSA Award in New York.