Tiffany Mendez
The world is running out of water. By 2025, it is predicted that nearly 2 billion people may not have enough drinking water to satisfy their needs. New NASA satellite data shows that a majority of the world’s underground aquifers are being worn out faster than they can be filled up. Since 1900, more than 50% of types of wetlands have disappeared and in many parts of the world, 40% of fresh water goes unaccounted for due to water leakage and pipe damage. One of the solutions to this problem is desalination. Desalination is a process that takes away minerals from salt water. However, removing salt from seawater will take up to 10 to 100 times more energy than traditional freshwater treatment methods.
A team of engineers was motivated by this problem and created a new prototype to desalinate seawater in a sustainable and low-cost way by using solar energy. This new device is predicted to double the amount of water used by solar energy. The proposed technology is simple: it was first inspired by plants, which transport water from roots to leaves by transpiration. The device is able to collect seawater using a low-cost porous material. The collected water is then heated by solar energy, which then separates the salt from the evaporated water. Unlike other active desalination technologies that need costly mechanical or electrical components such as pumps to desalinate water, the new proposed technology is based on spontaneous process, which means it does not need the help of machinery, and it is referred to as passive technology. Since it does not use pumps or costly machinery, the device is inexpensive.
This team has been able to reach record values of productivity: up to 20 liters per day of drinking water per square meter exposed to the sun. The main reason behind the performance is that it recycles the solar heat. This prototype is suitable for providing safe drinking water in emergency conditions, for example, areas where flooding and tsunamis occur. This prototype is also useful in third world countries where drinking water is scarce. In the future, the hope of this project is to collaborate with an industrial partnership to make this prototype more durable, accessible, and versatile. Freshwater is the most important resource for human life on earth. Without water, we cannot survive, and almost all our food sources require fresh water to grow or create. As water scarcity continues to present a major issue to society, it is important to take care of our planet and make sure we are doing everything we can to help save it from destruction.
https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-data-shows-the-world-is-running-out-of-water-2015-6
https://wwf.panda.org/our_work/water/importance_value/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190107131242.htm