TEDGlobal 2011
Sonaar Luthra: Meet the Water Canary
Sonaar Luthra: Descobreix el Water Canary
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Després d'una catàstrofe, com podem saber si l'aigua és potable o no? Els tests que es fan actualment són lents i complicats, i aquest retràs pot ser mortal com ho ha estat el brot de còlera després del terratrèmol d'Haití al 2010. Sonaar Luthra, un membre de TED, fa un avanç del diseny d'una eina simple que examina l'aigua de manera ràpida. És el Water Canary (Canari d'aigua).
Sonaar Luthra -
Sonaar Luthra is the creator of Water Canary, a water-testing device that collects real-time water-quality data from the field. Full bio
Sonaar Luthra is the creator of Water Canary, a water-testing device that collects real-time water-quality data from the field. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
Cholera was reported in Haiti
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A Haití, el còlera va aparèixer
00:17
for the first time in over 50 years
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per primer cop després de 50 anys
00:19
last October.
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l'octubre passat.
00:21
There was no way to predict
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No es podia saber
00:23
how far it would spread through water supplies
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fins on s'extendria a través dels suministres d'aigua
00:26
and how bad the situation would get.
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i el seu grau de gravetat.
00:29
And not knowing where help was needed
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I no saber on es necessitava ajuda
00:31
always ensured that help was in short supply
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feia que aquesta no arribés mai
00:34
in the areas that needed it most.
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allà on la necessitaven més.
00:37
We've gotten good at predicting and preparing for storms
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Som bons preveient tempestes
00:40
before they take innocent lives
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abans que causin morts
00:42
and cause irreversible damage,
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i danys irreparables,
00:44
but we still can't do that with water,
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però amb l'aigua encara no.
00:46
and here's why.
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Us explicaré el perquè.
00:48
Right now, if you want to test water in the field,
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Si voleu examinar l'aigua in situ,
00:50
you need a trained technician,
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necessiteu un especialista,
00:52
expensive equipment like this,
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un equip car,
00:54
and you have to wait about a day
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i heu d'esperar un dia
00:56
for chemical reactions to take place and provide results.
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per a l'obtenció dels resultats.
00:59
It's too slow
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És massa lent
01:01
to get a picture of conditions on the ground
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per a obtenir un esquema de les condicions
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before they change,
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abans que canvïin,
01:05
too expensive to implement
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massa car per a fer-ho
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in all the places that require testing.
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en tots els llocs afectats.
01:09
And it ignores the fact that, in the meanwhile,
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I mentrestant,
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people still need to drink water.
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la gent necessita beure aigua.
01:13
Most of the information that we collected on the cholera outbreak
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La majoria de la informació que hem obtingut del cólera
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didn't come from testing water;
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no ve de l'aigua examinada,
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it came from forms like this,
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sinó que ve dels informes
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which documented all the people
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de totes aquelles persones
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we failed to help.
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que no hem pogut ajudar.
01:24
Countless lives have been saved
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S'han salvat moltes vides
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by canaries in coalmines --
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amb canaris dins de les mines:
01:28
a simple and invaluable way
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una manera simple i inestimable
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for miners to know whether they're safe.
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per als miners de saber si estaven en perill.
01:32
I've been inspired by that simplicity as I've been working on this problem
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M'he inspirat d'això mentres treballava en aquest problema
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with some of the most hardworking and brilliant people I've ever known.
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amb la gent més treballadora i brillant que he conegut mai.
01:38
We think there's a simpler solution to this problem --
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Pensem que hi ha una solució més simple,
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one that can be used
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una que pot utilitzar
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by people who face conditions like this everyday.
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la gent que afronta aquestes condicions.
01:44
It's in its early stages,
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Només és un prototip,
01:46
but this is what it looks like right now.
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i és bàsicament això.
01:49
We call it the Water Canary.
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És el "Water Canary",
01:51
It's a fast, cheap device
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un aparell ràpid i barat,
01:54
that answers an important question:
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que respon a una pregunta important:
01:56
Is this water contaminated?
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Aquesta aigua està contaminada?
01:58
It doesn't require any special training.
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No cal entrenament,
02:01
And instead of waiting for chemical reactions to take place,
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i en comptes d'esperar reaccions químiques,
02:04
it uses light.
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utilitza una llum.
02:06
That means there's no waiting
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Vol dir que no cal esperar
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for chemical reactions to take place,
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les reaccions químiques,
02:10
no need to use reagents that can run out
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no calen reactius, que s'esgoten,
02:12
and no need to be an expert
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i no cal ser un expert
02:14
to get actionable information.
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per entendre els seus resultats.
02:17
To test water, you simply insert a sample
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Per examinar l'aigua, n'hi posem una mica
02:19
and, within seconds,
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i en pocs segons,
02:21
it either displays a red light, indicating contaminated water,
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o bé surt una llum vermella, que indica que està contaminada,
02:24
or a green light, indicating the sample is safe.
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o bé una llum verda si la mostra és segura.
02:26
This will make it possible
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Això permet que
02:28
for anyone to collect life-saving information
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tothom tingui accés a informació vital
02:31
and to monitor water quality conditions as they unfold.
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i pugui controlar la qualitat de l'aigua en tot moment.
02:34
We're also, on top of that,
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A més a més,
02:37
integrating wireless networking
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integrarem connexió inalàmbrica
02:40
into an affordable device
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en un dispositiu a preu assequible
02:42
with GPS and GSM.
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amb GPS i GSM.
02:44
What that means is that each reading can be automatically transmitted to servers
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Així, tots els tests seran transmesos als servidors
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to be mapped in real time.
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per fer un mapa en temps real.
02:49
With enough users,
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Amb suficients usuaris,
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maps like this will make it possible
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mapes així fan possible
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to take preventive action,
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l'acciò preventiva
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containing hazards before they turn into emergencies
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contenint els riscos abans que es tornin emergències
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that take years to recover from.
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que triguen anys a resoldre's.
03:00
And then, instead of taking days
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En comptes de trigar dies
03:02
to disseminate this information to the people who need it most,
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per informar les persones que més ho necessiten,
03:04
it can happen automatically.
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així es fa automàticament.
03:07
We've seen how distributed networks,
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Hem vist com les xarxes
03:09
big data and information
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i la Informació poden
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can transform society.
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transformar la societat.
03:13
I think it's time for us to apply them to water.
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És el moment d'aplicar-les a l'aigua.
03:16
Our goal over the next year is to get Water Canary ready for the field
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L'any que ve, volem un Water Canary preparat pel terreny
03:18
and to open-source the hardware
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i deixar-lo amb codi obert
03:20
so that anyone can contribute to the development and the evaluation,
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perquè tothom pugui contribuir al seu desenvolupament
03:23
so we can tackle this problem together.
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i afrontar junts aquest problema.
03:25
Thank you.
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Gràcies.
03:27
(Applause)
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(Aplaudiments)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sonaar Luthra -Sonaar Luthra is the creator of Water Canary, a water-testing device that collects real-time water-quality data from the field.
Why you should listen
Sonaar Luthra was a writer and educator when he enrolled in NYU's famed Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) -- a breeding ground for cross-disciplinary thinking. He tells the TED Blog what happened next:
"I wanted to come up with some way of becoming what I was calling an 'urban planner for the global village.' And ... I fell in love with circuitry and with making tangible objects that had real functionality. Next thing I knew, I found myself in a class called Design for UNICEF, taught by Clay Shirky in association with UNICEF’s Innovations Lab.
"I wanted to see what was possible with water, and I was lucky to have an incredible team and the support of faculty that were willing to take on such a huge challenge. We started off as novices but we all became water experts in the process."
Read the TED Blog's full Q&A with Sonaar Luthra, "Waterwise" >>
Sonaar Luthra | Speaker | TED.com