I don’t know if I love this story because of the name of the product: Hippo Rollers, or because it’s just so damn clever. Whatever, I’m hooked!

Hippo Rollers were originally designed and manufactured by two men in South Africa fifteen years ago to facilitate the toting of water to villages without running water. Each Roller can carry 22 gallons of water  — or five times as much water with the same effort– and since 15 million people in Africa don’t have adequate access to drinking water, its potential to improve lives across the globe is immense.

Emily Pilloton & Hippos

However, the original Hippo Rollers were expensive to manufacture (at a price point of $100 each), difficult to ship, and had a few design issues. Enter the energy force Emily Pilloton of Project H Design http://www.projecthdesign.org a San Francisco firm committed to “connect the power of design to the people who need it most, in the places where it can make a real and lasting difference.”

After raising money to deliver 75 new Hippo Rollers to the rural community of Kgautswane, South Africa in 2008, Emily visited the manufacturing plant in Johannesburg and identified several design opportunities that could lower the price point and improve shipping efficiencies of the Hippos. Working with Engineers without Borders http://www.ewb-usa.org/ and another product design consultancy, D2M, http://www.d2m-inc.com/ Project H was able to develop a two-part capsule that could be stacked and nested for shipping, with an improved watertight seal. It’s 200% more efficient to ship and should work even better to allow people to carry water to their villages once a day, instead of making multiple trips.

Read about the Hippo Roller and a host of other cool ideas that will get your heart and brain doing back flips at TreeHugger: http://www.treehugger.com/files