The inital AguaClara technologies were developed at Cornell University by a student-based research program, founded by Dr. Monroe Weber-Shirk in 2005. The goal of the program was to design drinking water treatment plants that would last for decades in resource-limited communities and provide open-source access to their research and technological advancements.

In 2013, AguaClara LLC, a certified B-Corporation, was founded by Cornell graduates to extend the implementation of the technology beyond Honduras. The organization was awarded B-Corps Best for the World Overall in 2015 and 2017. The social enterprise built four water treatment systems in India in partnership with the Indian NGO Pradan.

In 2017, AguaClara Reach was established to expand on the previous successes of AguaClara LLC, as a nonprofit organization. AguaClara Reach now leads the development and implementation of AguaClara technologies, with the continued mission of bringing safe drinking water on tap to communities around the world.

In 2020, AguaClara Reach developed an expanded strategic plan that includes:

• providing state-of-the-art designs for municipal drinking water treatment plants and technical support to Implementation Partners (see AIDE)

• advising faculty and student teams to foster continuous innovation and improved drinking water treatment technologies (see RIDE).

Through the AguaClara program, AguaClara Reach collaborates with our partner research organizations at Cornell University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Ohio State University to accelerate innovation. The AguaClara program is now a growing network of implementation partners and research partners. Together, we can continue to invent better water treatment technologies so that more communities can afford both to obtain and to maintain safe water on tap.