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One problem we observed with the Santa Rosa system is that it has eight filters, and to backwash one filter, it uses all the other seven. That means that during backwashing, all of the water that gets filtered goes towards backwashing, so production of clean water is stopped. Backwashing only takes about ten minutes per filter, but with eight filters, it adds up to a lot of time and water spent backwashing. AguaClara wants to make its filtration simple and inexpensive, so we hope to have fewer filters.

Many filtration systems have features that AguaClara cannot copy, such as the use of electricity, having parts invisible to the operator, and parts that are expensive or difficult to obtain in Honduras. These two sites have found solutions to many of the problems, but the AguaClara filtration aims to achieve even more. We are looking at foam and stacked filtration, trying to filter and backwash completely by gravity with minimal loss of water to backwashing. We will have our filtration system covered so that no debris can land in it, but the system will also be open to the operator so he or she can easily observe the filters, especially during backwash. Lastly, we are keeping the size minimal to ensure that the system is affordable.