In Haiti, Madagascar, Cambodia… in twenty countries, its fountains already allow more than 250,000 people to have access to drinking water. Even in remote areas, since they work without electricity. These pumps capable of purifying water from lakes or rivers were invented by a French engineer, Jean-Paul Augereau. Near Nantes, he told “Special Envoy” the amazing story of their design. However, nothing predestined him…
An extraordinary destiny
Patron of textile companies, Jean-Paul Augereau will have spent fifteen years of his life between two planes, between two hotels. Until seeing his race for success stopped dead … because of a simple sip of undrinkable water. In 2002, he was on a business trip to Egypt. “I’m in a hotel in Alexandriahe says, , I brush my teeth… And I contract sepsis which has destroyed my aortic valve. They had to do a human transplant for me. I was two days away from dying when they operated on me.”
After the transplant, a depression ensued that lasted two and a half years. He is 35 years old, his life as a businessman is behind him. And the one who, by his own admission, cared little about others, is looking for a new meaning in his life.
“I got sick from the water, I live because someone gave me something… well, I’m going to try to give something back to others. There are 2 billion people in the world who do not have access to drinking water, I will try to find solutions for them.”
Jean-Paul Augereau, engineer and designer of drinking fountainsto “Special Envoy”
This trained engineer then studies the machines that exist to purify water and the regulations, then develops his first water treatment station. After ten years of research, he developed an entirely mechanical fountain. Thanks to five stages of filtration, it makes all surface water (rivers, ponds, wells or brackish water) drinkable.
Jean-Paul Augereau is now 55 years old, and will have to undergo a new heart operation. His heart no longer allows him to go and install his fountains himself, but he continues to send them to the four corners of the world with his association Agir ensemble. Even if he now earns the minimum wage, he says he has never been so happy. “I will never be able to provide enough drinking water for all of humanity, but I consider that I have a mission, which is to try to enable children and human beings to live better, and i try to do it the best i can“, he concludes.
Excerpt from “The engineer and the miraculous fountains”, a report to see in “Special Envoy” on November 10, 2022.
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