When Ludwick Marishane was in high school he conceptualised and began designing a product that might just be a massive breakthrough in the global drive to save water. At the same time it would also serve to provide sanitation to communities that do not have access to these amenities. He calls the product “DryBath” and has patented it and registered a company to commercialise it.

Ludwick came up with the idea while sunbathing in his home in Limpopo, South Africa. He and a friend were contemplating the possibility of having a lotion you could rub on your body that would prevent you from needing to take a bath. The common question “how do I save water” was often on his mind and he had been interested in renewable energy and sustainability for a while. He took that thought and begged the question that although solar water heaters and the like are great for providing sustainable alternatives, what if you could go one step further and save both water and electricity at the same time?

The amount of people in the world without access to water exceeds 2.5 billion people and although all media channels continually ask us to save water, it’s easy to forget that many people can’t even get a drop. Having a complete lack of water for an extended period of time often results in trachoma. The disease affects the eyes and can cause blindness if the person is repeatedly infected. The only preventative measure one needs to take to avoid contracting it is to wash their face.

A solar charge controller definitely does its part for energy conservation in the developed world but DryBath has the potential to be produced on a massive scale and to reach struggling communities all over the globe. It goes a step further than just being another one of the ways to save water. The expansion of DryBath would also provide a solution that doesn’t require major infrastructural alterations to the land.

Ludwick has won multiple awards for this promising development and if the product achieves what it intends to achieve then the fight to save water as well as people’s lives will get a thoroughly needed power surge. What better way to save water than to substitute water?