We decided to address the issue of access to clean water in Cape York and to use a solar still to do this. This would work by using heat from the sun to evaporate water help in a basin (removing contaminants), which would then run down into a storage tank. After further research, it was decided that to be sure that the water would be safe to drink a sand filter would be used to filter the water before it entered the basin (to ensure any bacteria present was removed) and it was passed through a charcoal filter after the solar still to remove any harmful chemicals in the water.
A plan was created of how to implement the project was created, consisting of an initial stage of building, and testing three prototype stills, building, and distributing a limited number (30) stills and the full-scale production and distribution across Cape York. It was estimated that the first stage would take 3 months, the second stage 6 months and the third stage 3 years.
The project would employ local people in an area with high unemployment, and many of the materials used would be recyclable. The project would be run by a not-for-profit organisation, with funding from donors and/or the government.
We were actually asked this during a pitching section, we initially didn't really have a good answer, but it can be used in the rainy season as a collection basin. It does not need to function as normal. I hope this makes sense!