Funded Aquatest — the world's first portable, affordable water quality diagnostic tool ($13 million grant)

The Gates Foundation awarded a $13 million grant to the Aquatest project, an international consortium developing the world's first low-cost, easy-to-use field diagnostic tool for rapidly assessing drinking water quality in low-income communities. Traditional water quality testing requires laboratory equipment, trained technicians, and days of waiting — putting it far out of reach for the rural communities most at risk from contaminated water. Aquatest aimed to produce a test that community health workers with minimal training could administer in the field in minutes, enabling real-time identification of contaminated water sources.