THE CARIBBEAN BUSINESS REPORT
St. Lucian inventor provides hope for water woes
By Alison Kentish
CASTRIES, March 11, 2019
(IPS) — Karlis Noel spends his
days in his lab in the small, picturesque
community of Laborie
in St. Lucia. The former fisherman’s
story might sound like an
overnight success, but his present
accolades in the field of engineering
are the result of years of hard
work and an unceasing drive to
make life easier for communities
in the throes of a water crisis.
Noel was not able to complete
secondary school, but he never
allowed that to interfere with his
thirst for knowledge. The selftaught
inventor, with a knack for
engineering, is receiving acclaim
for building the Eastern Caribbean’s
first solar-powered, mobile
desalination plant. With a grant
from the Global Environment
Facility Small Grants Program
(GEF-SGP) to the Laborie Fishers
and Consumers Cooperative
Project, Noel was able to build
the facility, which can produce
1,000 gallons of water daily.
The facility is a marvel to
behold. It is located near the
ocean, opens up ‘transformersstyle’
to get the desalination
process going andif there is a
storm, it can be folded up, taken
away and stored in a safe place
until the all-clear is given.
In 2018, Noel built a second
generation desalination facility
for the government of Nauru in
the Pacific, a country beset with
problems sourcing potable water.
His determination to help solve
the water crises was recently recognised
by the Government of
St. Lucia. Noel received the Saint
Lucia Les Pitons Medal (Gold)
for having performed long and
meritorious service in the field of
entrepreneurship and community
development.
IPS spoke to Noel from his lab
about his plans for the future,
the destination for his next solarpowered
and why he always has Dominica
in mind when hammering away
on his units. Excerpts of the
interview follow:
Inter Press Service (IPS): Your
solar-powered, mobile desalination
unit is creating waves and
has made it across the world to
help the country of Nauru deal
with its water crisis. Did you ever
think that your invention would
one day help nations?
Karlis Noel (KN): I knew it
was going to make waves, but
what surprised me was the short
space of time it took to gain such
wide appeal, after the very first
video of the facility hit social
media. It’s such a good feeling to
help a country that needs potable
water. I didn’t do it with money
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mobile desalination unit
in mind, I wanted to help, to
make a difference. Just knowing
that I can assist in this way is an
accomplishment for me.
IPS: Walk me through the
process. How exactly does the
system work? What sets it apart
from other desalination facilities?
KN: Desalination in itself is
not new. Reverse osmosis is not
new. It is mature technology.
What makes this system different
is that it is fully mobile and
solar powered and there is no
brine discharged into the sea.
There is a waste management
system.
The other thing is that the latest
system I developed works on
a very broad spectrum. So it can
purify anything from fresh water
to highly saline water, making it
possible to use it by the sea or the
river or any source of contaminated
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water. That’s what makes
it unique.
IPS: Tell me about the original
problem that your community of
Laborie faced, which gave rise to
this invention?
KN: Strangely, during
droughts we have no water, but
one would think that when it
rains we actually have a lot of
water, but this is not the case.
When it rains, the water company
has to shut down the system due
to debris etc, so we have a situation
where when there’s drought
we are without and when it rains
we are also without water.
IPS: Can this facility help
other communities facing water
crises?
KN: Definitely, but there is
also an issue that I have noted
from my research work with
farmers. The sea water levels
are rising and this means that
salt water is entering our rivers
at a faster rate. The farmers
in some communities (for
example Roseau in St. Lucia) are
faced with a serious problem as
they can no longer irrigate their
crops with water from the river.
Farmers in the community of
Black Bay (south of St. Lucia)
are facing a similar problem.
We are now getting salt water,
two miles into the river. So this
presents another aspect of the
water scarcity issue, with salt
water taking over our rivers.
Eventually these communities
will need a machine like this to
ensure there is fresh water to
irrigate fields.
IPS: How do you see it helping
post disaster in our region?
KN: This is the bigger goal
of this project. What I’m trying
to do right now is shrink the
facility. If I can make it both
smaller and more efficient, for
example being able to get 10,000
or 20,000 gallons of fresh water
a day from a much smaller unit,
this would be ideal.
It means it can be easily
deployed post-disaster. This is
important to me because we
are going to get more severe
storms. It will be necessary to
have smaller, more affordable
systems with higher output.
My dream is to design a unit
that can fit in the back of a car,
easily put on board a helicopter,
for easy transportation to
any community or country that
needs it.
For some reason, when I’m
designing, I have Dominica in
mind. I know what that country
went through following the devastation
of Hurricane Maria and
I want to ensure that I can do
my part to help any sister island
in their time of need.
Karlis Noel has invented the Eastern Caribbean’s fi rst solar-powered, mobile desalination
plant.
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