ASU Student Is Entrepreneur Of The Year Finalist

August 23, 2013

Jared Schoepf cleans water in a barrel. The Arizona State University student’s project is a finalist in the college track of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year award.

sipp Finalist poster for Jared Schoepf's SafeSIPP. (Photo courtesy of Jared Schoepf)

Schoepf is the co-founder of SafeSIPP, a water purification system that uses a 30-gallon rolling barrel to clean water. One of his team members came up with the idea after hearing about how far people had to walk in South Africa to retrieve clean water.

SafeSIPP removes large debris and bacteria from the water through a patent-pending purification process. Schoepf has tested its durability on hiking trails near Papago Park in Tempe. He said people can retrieve more water using his system.

"Rather than people carry the water on their heads, they are now able to kind of push the barrel on the ground to obtain even more water just because the ground is now carrying the water than themselves by carrying it on their head," Schoepf said.

If Schoepf wins the contest, he will receive $5,000 for the project and a feature in the January issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. He hopes nonprofit organizations use his product in third-world countries.

Schoepf plans to start selling SafeSIPP in January for around $50.