Berlin is knorke: Innovative water treatment
Berlin, 30. September 2024: Around two billion people worldwide do not have assured access to clean drinking water. A situation that seems impossible in Germany – but water is also becoming scarcer in many municipalities here. Reason enough to give it some thought: How can we use water as a resource (more) responsibly? How can we treat sea water or water from polluted sources so that it becomes drinking water? Questions to which Ali Al-Hakim and Hamed Beheshti have found an answer. Together with their team, the founders of Boreal Light GmbH have developed the “Winture Planet Cube” water treatment system – a solar-powered system “Made in Germany”.
The founders met during a research project in Berlin. The harmony was right, the mindset matched, the ideas emerged – and so they initially founded a wind turbine start-up. However, during a trip to Africa together, they quickly noticed how 1. vital and 2. expensive clean drinking water is and therefore difficult to access for many people. This is a fundamental problem that particularly affects people in poorer regions or regions shaken by crises and war. In Marienfelde, where the company is based, Ali Al-Hakim and Hamed Beheshti, together with their team, developed an innovative solution that quickly found acceptance and use far beyond the borders of the Berlin district.
The water treatment systems from Boreal Light are produced under the brand name “Winture”. The special water desalination and filter systems clean water from the sea or other sources that are, for example, polluted. The outcome: fresh, hygienically safe drinking water. The so-called water kiosks filter pathogens and pollutants from the water and desalinate and disinfect it. A special feature: The systems are able to carry out the cleaning process with water from a variety of sources, as shown by a successful test with water from the Dead Sea, which has a salt content of as much as 33 percent. The systems are powered by solar energy and are therefore independent from power grids. Depending on the system, up to 1,125,000 litres of water can be purified daily. And as it is a long way from Marienfelde to the Ukraine, Yemen or Kenya, where the processing systems are already in use, the Boreal Light team placed particular emphasis on ease of use when developing its products. Installation and maintenance can be carried out easily, as can repairs directly on site. In addition, the systems are constantly monitored via remote maintenance.
With its water treatment systems, Boreal Light GmbH demonstrates an excellent spirit of innovation – and literally so. The company has already received several awards. Most recently in 2023 with the award “Diversity starts up – Berlin honours migrant companies” from the City of Berlin and in May 2024 with the VORSPRUNG business award from the East German Economic Forum (OWF). A strong development that Berlin Partner was also able to support. For example, the Berlin business development agency supported Boreal Light as part of the “Back to global” foreign trade promotion programme in 2022 and with its participation in the IFAT 2024 environmental trade fair in Munich.
Water kiosk now employs more than 300 people in Africa. This corresponds to up to three jobs per location. Among other things, the local employees are responsible for selling the purified water to the local people – at a tenth of the usual market price. Boreal Light thus lives up to its reputation as an “impact company” that works to solve social and ecological problems while at the same time operating profitably. From Berlin to the world: Boreal Light, along with many other Berlin-based companies in a wide range of sectors, demonstrates how this works both in the long term and sustainably.
