sortiwa
[ad_1]
There are 785 million people who do not get drinking water. And about half a million people die of diarrhoea caused by contaminated drinking water every year, according to the World Health Organization. By 2030, 700 million people could be displaced because of intense water shortage, according to the UN.
The water problems of different regions call for a variety of solutions, and among the most talked-about innovations is making water out of thin air, literally. Zero Mass Water, an American company, makes solar panels that capture moisture from the air and condense it to produce water, which is then sterilised and mineralised to make it potable.
Two panels can produce 10 litres a day, enough to meet a family’s drinking and cooking needs. But each panel costs $2,000, which is far from affordable for most people of the developing world. The price has to come down significantly for mass deployment in poor neighbourhoods.
A waste-treatment contraption called the Omni Processor — funded by Bill Gates and which turns the moisture evaporated from human waste into drinking water (besides generating electricity) — aims to solve the water woes of communities in developing countries. The technology addresses the twin challenges of sanitation and clean water, but its wide acceptability would remain a challenge. Then there is the success of desalination in countries like Saudi Arabia and Israel, which provides a way for countries like India to seek freshwater in the sea.
Making clean water available to a large majority, if not all, of the poorest around the world by 2030 will certainly be among the most consequential technological achievements of recent times.
This story is part of the ‘Tech that can change your life in the next decade’package.
[ad_2]
Source link
