Reasearch

Thesis Question

How can utilizing branding and product design increase millennials' engagement in water advocacy and encourage chemical-free living?

The Solution

Millennials make up the largest portion of the population and have the most buying power. Their consumer habits have a direct impact on the market. Targeting millennials and educating them on the water crisis is the best approach to making change happen. A product that will cultivate a community of advocates for chemical-free living will have a ripple e ect for change. This water filter encourages drinking clean and will remind users of the importance of water. Building a product that is a ordable and appealing will boost millennials' investment to the current crisis. We can leverage millennials consumer preferences to shi in how corporations and the government address chemical use and contamination of our water. All Water filterers are a ordable, space-conscious, decorative, and customizable, all the key elements millennials value when buying household necessities.

Research

The Water Crisis Water Filters & Millennials

The water crisis can’t be boiled down to one issue. There is a multitude of crises intertwined in a complex system. Drought and access to clean water have been the focus of water advocacy as they have immediate ramifications that can be seen firsthand. These water issues are important aspects of water health, but they are not the only concern we need to focus on. A top issue a ecting our water health that is not o en discussed are the hazardous contaminants in our drinking water. The contaminants that have the greatest impact on human health are man-made and unregulated by the EPA and o en appear in products we use on a daily basis. Currently, there are over 80,000 chemicals used by industry and only 96 of them are regulated (Gammon, 2022). They enter our water systems through household pipes and industrial pollution.

A recent of the impact of industrial pollution was brought to light a er a lawsuit revealed DuPont chemical disposed of thousands of gallons of chemical waste into a North Virginia river which led to one of the worse health violations in history. Not only did they create these toxins knowing the severe health hazards, but they also continue to make them for their own financial gain. They make so much profit in the use of these chemicals in household goods, that they have paid millions to hide the true nature of their actions, but exposure continues to happen despite their best attempts. The problem goes well beyond the actions of one company. Various municipal, commercial, and industrial facilities have stored over 470,000 tanks of toxic waste in underground storage, and since 2008 there have been over 100,000 leaks that have yet to be cleaned (Enander, 2012). The most dangerous chemical we interact with are called PFOS/PFOA, these are man-maid and indestructible. They are bio-accumulative meaning they build up in the body over time and cause a multitude of illnesses most common, cancer. These “forever chemicals” have been around for roughly 100 years and have been identified as toxic within the last 50 years. In February 2019, EPA announced with great fanfare that it had “begun the process” of finally listing PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under Superfund law (Bilott, 2019, pg 369). Actions like this need to happen much faster in order to protect an already limited supply of water. Cleaning toxins from our water is the other half of the issue. There are nearly 77 million Americans that receive water from a system that violated federal protection in 2015 (MacMillan, 2021). Some of these violations consisted of exceeding health-based standards, failing to properly test water for contaminants, and failing to report contamination to state authorities or the public (Fedinick, Wu, Olson, MacMillan, 2020). Americans rely on these facilities to filter their water for them, and they are not meeting the requirements. For people to feel safe and secure they need to filter their own water to ensure it is clean. Home water filters are the best way for people to get clean and reliable water.