Every person around the world needs roughly 20 to 50 liters of water - safe and clean water - in a single day to drink, bathe, and cook with. About 20% of people on earth lack access to clean and safe drinking water. Moreover, the majority of humans who have access to it generally have to endure lengthy round trips - sometimes of up to 6 or even 8 hours - in order to actually transport water back to their home.
The lack of accessible water has sparked a desire for scientists and benefactors worldwide to come up with various and creative ways of creating clean water for our thirsty world for years to come. In this article, we'll discuss seven new technologies that people with no access to clean water can hope to rely on in the near future. If you want to know more about the status of your drinking water, you can check this BOS post for more information regarding water quality and politics.
1. Zero Mass Water
Zero Mass Water started a project named the Source Hydropanel and uses solar power to create drinking water - up to ten liters a day, which is enough for the basic needs of two to three people. The system behind the solar panels is rather simple and yet extremely efficient and resourceful: solar energy is used to heat up a sponge-like material in order to create condensation, which accumulates over time and is then collected into a reservoir. The tank's water is filtered, while minerals are added in order to improve taste and hygiene. This entire "solar system" can be connected to a tap or fountain, thus providing easy access to safe, ready-to-drink water.
2. Fog Harvester
Set in the Moroccan desert, the Fog Harvester, which is the largest of its kind in the world, makes use of huge mesh fences in order to trap fog and turn it into clean, safe-to-drink water. The harvester has a surface of over 600 square meters and mainly utilizes the fog that blankets the Aït Baâmrane region for roughly half a year.
In terms of statistics and results, the Moroccan fog harvester can produce up to 17 gallons of safe drinking water per a single square yard of mesh fence. The water is then delivered to local residents using a solar-powered pump system.
The Drinkable Book
A more creative way to create clean water is The Drinkable Book, a technology created by Carnegie Mellon scientists in partnership with the Water is Life non-profit. This actual book is a filtration tool as well as an educational one, and every single page contains sanitation and water advice. This information is printed on scientific coffee filter paper that can be used to purify water and kill up to 99.9% of bacteria. All you do is tear out a filter, slide it into the custom filter box, and pour contaminated water through, resulting in clean, drinkable water. The amazing fact here is that just one book can last up to four years for a single person - that's four years of clean, safe-to-drink water.
Portable UV Water Purifier
While a lack of water is a huge concern in drought-affected places around the world, there are also plenty of places surrounded by water - it's just contaminated and undrinkable. That's why researchers at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have created a tiny UV water purifier. This piece of technology is a simple black rectangular device - half the size of a postage stamp! - and is able to cut water purification down from taking 48 long hours to some mere 20 minutes! This is because it uses the full energy spectrum instead of just UV light. Even though this particular device is not yet ready for mass production, it's expected to reach the areas most in need of quick drinking water in the very near future.
Solar and Wind Powered Water Filtration
As mentioned above, polluted water is even more common of a problem than a lack of water. That's why Innovative Water Technologies created a system to filtrate water - namely, the SunSpring Hybrid - which can provide a community with up to 20,000 liters of clean water in a single day and lasts ten or more years. It's solar and wind powered, plus completely portable. This device is helping developing countries clean their contaminated waterways and allowing their people to enjoy clean and safe drinking water once again.
The Warka Water Tower
In a rural Ethiopian village, this incredible invention is able to pull clean water from thin air! The Warka Water Tower is based on the same general principle as the fog harvester, except that it takes the form of a huge cylinder made from bamboo and wrapped in recycled mesh. A canopy skirted along the tower creates shade for the locals as they funnel off the condensed water created at the tower's base. This device allows entire communities to have safe, accessible water available to them.
LifeStraw
LifeStraw might be the most famous piece of technology to have revolutionized how people in less developed areas drink clean water. Created by Vestergaard, LifeStraw is a portable drinking straw capable of filtering dirty water and making it entirely safe to drink. The straw can purify up to 1,000 liters and removes up to 99.9% of parasites and bacteria! Moreover, the company also developed high-capacity water purifiers out of steel that are meant for emergency situations and emergency response teams.
The Bottom Line
As you can see above, there are quite a few solutions being developed that provide clean water to drought-affected areas as well as to areas with polluted water. Even though these two conditions affect roughly 30% of humanity, it goes without saying that any living person must have access to clean and safe-to-drink water! As such, we can only hope that more and more new technologies are developed in order to quest the thirsts of our thirsty world. After all, water is key to life!
