World Water Crisis

The lack of clean, fresh water is one of the worst problems worldwide today, due to its impact on economy and day-to-day life of the people that are affected by it.

Water scarcity, the lack of clean water resources in different parts of the world derives from various economic interests in those specific areas and/or on the climate of those areas. In some cases the issue is excessive drought (like in Sub Saharan Africa and Central America) or floods (South East Asia, Eastern Europe and South America).

Big corporations (Nestle for example) use even the water resources of normally dry areas to produce more bottled water for economic profit. The best example is the recent activities of the above mentioned company in the Sacramento area, where the Bottling Plant is draining around 320 million liters of water per year.

All these factors are responsible for over 1 billion people’s lack of access to clean drinking water alone, not considering other basic uses for potable water. Several organizations around the world, most of them under the direct guidance of the United Nations are trying to diminish the effects of the water crisis through special programs. Both economic and physical water scarcity are tackled with fundraising actions and awareness programs.

Contaminated water is the number one issue in areas with water shortage. The most affected countries are in Sub Saharan and Saharan areas of Africa (Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan and Ethiopia), South and Central America (Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Mexico) and Central East Asia (China, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh).

Amongst the direct effective actions carried by people concerned with these problems, an important role is played by a few ingenious but very useful inventions.

Here are five inventions that improve water quality.

UTEC’s Water-generating Billboard

This invention is the result of the bright minds of future engineers from the University of Engineering and Technology from Peru’s capital, Lima. The AirHuerta is one of the most efficient innovations in a place where the lack of potable water or any kind of water is affecting about 1.5 million people. One of the driest places on Earth, the capital of Peru, started benefiting from the billboards that transform the humidity from the air into clean, potable water in 2013 and since then, a series of such Huertas started producing clean water for the population. With the help of a local publicity agency, the inventors of the billboards began advertising their work. Using electricity provided by Lima’s city power lines, the billboards turn condensed humid air into an average of 90 liters of water daily. What started as an ambitious yet ingenious college plan might grow in the near future into a viable long term solution for other areas which suffer from water shortage. It’s great to think that all of this due to the joint efforts of engineers and advertising agents.

The Drinkable Book

A unique invention, the Drinkable Book is a revolutionary asset for people living in areas where drinking water is contaminated. Created by a group of American scientists, “The Book” combines a basic, very efficient water filter contained in each of its pages, with special tips & tricks on how to handle being raised in an area where water is not safe to drink.

The people using this invention have access to potable water with minimal effort and they can benefit from the instructions printed on the filter “pages”. The Water is Life foundation concentrates its efforts on a very fast and efficient spread of water filters and alternative ways of producing water safe to drink for affected communities, especially in very poor communities from areas with harsh climates.

LUV Water

A very enthusiastic group of students at the Carnegie Mellon University created a water purification mechanism called LUV Water. It is capable of creating energy to power ultraviolet LED lights which kill about 99% of the germs and pathogenic bacteria from the water. But this doesn’t stop here. The team is working on getting even further in the field, the next step being a solution that incorporates ultraviolet LEDs to water bottles.

The device is still in an incipient phase, but those who came up with the idea are searching for funding solutions that will drop the costs of producing these devices very fast and very soon. The idea behind the product is to bring a fast, scientific option to tackle health problems in areas where climate and poverty unfortunately join hands.

LifeStraw

Created by the Vestegaard Company, the LifeStraw is basically a tubular device through which impure water is turned into safe to drink water by simply sucking it from the source. The company’s official goal is providing real alternatives for the health problems of the people living in poverty and improper conditions.

The LifeStraw was recognized by the Forbes magazine as one of the most important inventions of the contemporary science. It was designed and used since 2005, with immediate effects on the quality of life and health of the people from deprived areas.

Dean Kamen’s Slingshot

A well-known and respected inventor (with the iBot wheelchair and the Segway among his creations), Dean Kamen brought to light in 2009 in collaboration with Coca Cola, the Slingshot. Initially called the Freestyle, the device could produce drinkable water with the help of a Sterling engine (a regenerator engine that converts heat into mechanical work) from any type of water source (Kamen claims that the machine can transform up to 97 % of the undrinkable water into safe, reliable potable water).

Being vapor condensed, the contaminated water is turned into over 900 liters of potable water a day. In partnership with the Coca Cola CEO, Kamen’s company, DEKA, sent 15 units to schools in Ghana as a test in 2011. The result was a huge success, due to the ease of the Slinghshot’s use and its efficiency.

Encouraged by this positive outcome, the inventor and his partner planned to implement by the end of this year a number of 2000 units in places where these kinds of inventions are needed the most (Central and South America, Asia and Africa).

Images source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5