Cholera was reported in Haiti for the first time in over 50 years last October. There was no way to predict how far it would spread through water supplies and how bad the situation would get. And not knowing where help was needed always ensured that help was in short supply in the areas that needed it most.
Kolera je zabeležena na Haitiju po prvi put u poslednjih pedeset godina prošlog oktobra. Nije bilo načina da se predvidi koliko može da se proširi putem vode i koliko loša situacija može da postane. To što nismo znali gde je pomoć potrebna je značilo da je ona uvek bila nedovoljna u oblastima gde je bila najpotrebnija.
We've gotten good at predicting and preparing for storms before they take innocent lives and cause irreversible damage, but we still can't do that with water, and here's why. Right now, if you want to test water in the field, you need a trained technician, expensive equipment like this, and you have to wait about a day for chemical reactions to take place and provide results. It's too slow to get a picture of conditions on the ground before they change, too expensive to implement in all the places that require testing. And it ignores the fact that, in the meanwhile, people still need to drink water. Most of the information that we collected on the cholera outbreak didn't come from testing water; it came from forms like this, which documented all the people we failed to help.
Postali smo dobri u predviđanju i pripremama za oluje pre nego što su oduzimale nevine živote i nanosile nenadoknadive štete, ali to još uvek ne možemo da uradimo sa vodom i evo zašto. U ovom trenutku, ako želite da proverite vodu na terenu, treba vam obučeni tehničar, skupa oprema kao ova i potrebno je da se čeka oko jednog dana da se odigraju hemijske reakcije i time obezbede rezultate. Suviše je sporo dobiti sliku o stanju na terenu pre nego što se ono promeni; previše skupo za primenu na svim mestima koja zahtevaju proveru. I to zanemaruje činjenicu da u međuvremenu ljudi i dalje moraju da piju vodu. Većina informacija koje smo prikupili o izbijanju kolere nije došla od testiranja vode, došla je iz formulara kao što je ovaj, kojim smo dokumentovali sve ljude kojima nismo uspeli da pomognemo.
Countless lives have been saved by canaries in coalmines -- a simple and invaluable way for miners to know whether they're safe. I've been inspired by that simplicity as I've been working on this problem with some of the most hardworking and brilliant people I've ever known. We think there's a simpler solution to this problem -- one that can be used by people who face conditions like this everyday.
Kanarinci su spasili nebrojeni živote u rudnicima uglja - jednostavan i jeftin način zahvaljujući kom su rudari znali da li su bezbedni. Ta jednostavnost me je inspirisala dok sam radio na ovom problemu sa nekim od najvrednijih i brilijantnih ljudi koje sam ikada upoznao.. Smartamo da postoji jednostavno rešenje za ovaj problem - ono koje mogu koristiti ljudi koji se sreću sa ovakvim situacijama svakodnevno.
It's in its early stages, but this is what it looks like right now. We call it the Water Canary. It's a fast, cheap device that answers an important question: Is this water contaminated? It doesn't require any special training. And instead of waiting for chemical reactions to take place, it uses light. That means there's no waiting for chemical reactions to take place, no need to use reagents that can run out and no need to be an expert to get actionable information.
U ranoj fazi je, ali ovako izgleda trenutno. Zovamo ga "Vesnik zatrovane vode." To je brza, jeftina sprava koja odgovara na bitno pitanje: Da li je voda zagađena? Ne zahteva nikakvu posebu obuku. I umesto čekanja na hemijske reakcije koristi svetlost. To znači da nema čekanja na hemijske reakcije, nema potrebe za korišćenjem reagensa koji mogu da se potroše i ne treba da budete stručnjak da biste dobili adekvatnu informaciju.
To test water, you simply insert a sample and, within seconds, it either displays a red light, indicating contaminated water, or a green light, indicating the sample is safe. This will make it possible for anyone to collect life-saving information and to monitor water quality conditions as they unfold.
Da biste testirali vodu, možete jednostavno ubaciti uzorak i za nekoliko sekundi, ili pokazuje crvenu lampicu, što označava zagađenu vodu, ili zelenu, što ukazuje da je uzorak bezbedan. Ovo će omogućiti svakome da prikuplja informacije od životnog značaja i da prati kvalitet vode kako se uslovi menjaju.
We're also, on top of that, integrating wireless networking into an affordable device with GPS and GSM. What that means is that each reading can be automatically transmitted to servers to be mapped in real time. With enough users, maps like this will make it possible to take preventive action, containing hazards before they turn into emergencies that take years to recover from. And then, instead of taking days to disseminate this information to the people who need it most, it can happen automatically. We've seen how distributed networks, big data and information can transform society. I think it's time for us to apply them to water.
Takođe smo, povrh toga, ugradili bežično umrežavanje u uređaj po prihvatljivoj ceni sa GPSom i GSMom. Što znači da svako očitavanje može automatski da se prosledi serverima kako bi se mapiralo u stvarnom vremenu. Sa dovoljno korisnika, mape ovog tipa učinile bi mogućim otkrivanje i preventivno delovanje, zaraza pre nego što se one pretvore u vanredna stanja od kojih se godinama oporavlja. I onda, umesto danima distribuirati ove informacije ljudima kojima su najpotrebnije, mouće je to uraditi trenutno. Videli smo kako distribuirane mreže, sa mnogo podataka i informacija mogu da promene društvo. Mislim da je vreme da ih primenimo na vodu.
Our goal over the next year is to get Water Canary ready for the field and to open-source the hardware so that anyone can contribute to the development and the evaluation, so we can tackle this problem together.
Naša misija narednih godina je da osposobimo ovaj projekat za teren i obezbedimo hardver pod licencom tvorenog tipa, tako da svi mogu da doprinesu razvoju i proceni, kako bismo ovaj problem pobedili zajedno.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)