8+ Innovative Water Conservation Ideas To Save The World-2

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In our quest to find innovative water conservation techniques used worldwide, we have already learnt following in the Part 1

• Solution 1: Develope new technology to conserve water

Examples:

• • 1: Can you produce water while driving a car?

 

• Solution 2: Create an oasis in the desert with unique artificial glaciers.

Examples:

• • 1: How a ‘crazy’ engineer became the ice man of Ladakh?
  • 2: Unique Ice Stupa that provides water throughout the year

Now it’s time to concentrate on,

• Solution 3: Produce water from the thin air

Examples:

• • 1: Billboard that grows vegetables
  • 2: Bamboo Tower that creates water from thin air
  • 3: Can you drink the fog?
  • 4: Now you can produce water almost anywhere

 

• Solution 4: Make the most of what we already have

Examples:

• • 1: Can we use seawater for farming?

 

Solution 3: Produce water from the thin air

No matter if you have any source of fresh water or not, there is always humidity and there is always some water in the air.

What if we can utilize this water?

Can we suck the water from air to quench our thirst?

Yes! We can.

With the help of latest innovations, we can literally produce water from the thin air.

How cool is that!

Let’s have a look at some examples.

1. This Billboard Is Growing Vegetables

Peru’s clever billboard is turning humid air into usable water

 

Lima is situated at the edge of the extremely dry Atacama Desert, (Peru, South America).

It receives almost no rainfall ( annual precipitation is less than 1 inch).

More than 50% of the people have no access to clean water for daily activities and farming.

To make the situation worst, most people draw water for irrigation from wells and rivers. Presence of heavy metals such as lead, arsenic and cadmium makes them extremely polluted. Hence, the majority of the fresh fruits and vegetables grown here and distributed throughout the capital are contaminated.

On the other hand, Lima’s Pacific Coast experiences humidity of more than 98% on summer days (from December to February.)

Local communities desperately needed an effective solution to make their lives bearable.

So, they came up with a billboard that turns thin air into usable water. Wow! that’s amazing!

How it started?

Peru’s University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC) and their ad agency Mayo DraftFCB wanted to…

1. Inspire young people to pursue careers in engineering,
2. Show how technology can solve local problems.

The two teams combined creativity and technology to create the first billboard in the world that produces drinking water out of air.

 

How it works?

1. Capturing air humidity:

• The billboard has dehumidifiers that capture the air humidity.

2. Condensation:

• Electricity from the city’s power lines runs the condensers inside the billboard.
• These condensers are cooler than the air outside.
• When air gets in the contact of the cooled surfaces of the condensers, the water vapor in the air turns into liquid water.

3. Water Purification:

• The condensed water gets purified through a reverse osmosis system.

4. Storage:

• The purified water flows down and gets collected into a storage tank at the base of the billboard.
• The billboard generates about 100 liters (26 gallons) of water each day.

5. Distribution:

• This water is useful for human consumption or agricultural use.
• A simple faucet gives local residents access to just come and take high-quality water at home.
• For agriculture purpose, the purified water is used in the drip irrigation system that connects to an urban farm on the ground below.
• These fresh crops were given away to the locals in an effort to promote this new sustainable urban farm.

Pros:

• It’s a life saver:

  This ingenious solution provides fresh water as well as contamination free vegetables. Poor local communities those can’t afford costly water purification systems, can take benefit of this technology.

Cons:

• Won’t work in dry climate:

  This system can work effectively only in the region that has enough humidity in the air.

Impact:

The water-rendering billboard was such a hit that it won a Cannes Lion Gold creativity prize. Since the billboard’s installation, there is a significant rise in the UTEC’s student enrollment.

In just one week of operation, the billboard had produced 2,448 fresh heads of lettuce. They were free from any contamination.

In 3 months, the single billboard was able to produce 9450 liters (approx 2500 gallons) of potable water. It made hundreds of parched, poor families happy and eager to see similar systems in other towns.

If a single billboard can create such a difference, just imagine how wonderful it will be to implement this technology worldwide.

 

This Bamboo Tower Can Save Your Miles

Warka water tower creates 26 gallons of water a day from thin air, without consuming any energy.

In 2015, Italian Designer Arturo Vittori, along with his team designed a bamboo tower called ‘Warka Water Tower’ that collects moisture from the thin air and brings it down by gravity to the people.

They are great for rural areas in arid and semi-arid region, where it’s hard to get the water.

How it’s made?

1. The Name:

   The Warka Water tower is named after the giant, wild, native Ethiopian fig tree called ‘Warka’. It constitutes a very important part of the local culture and ecosystem by providing its fruit and a gathering place for the community.

2. Framework:

   It is approx. 30 feet (just over 9 meters) high tower made up of bamboo bracing which provides structural strength, stability and lightness.

3. Collecting water:

   This framework supports water-resistant polyester mesh netting hanging on the inside of the framing, to collect rain, fog and dew from air though condensation.

4. Funneling:

   Collected moisture gets funneled into a reservoir at the base of the structure.

5. Covering:

   A fabric canopy shades the lower sections of the tower to prevent the collected water from evaporating, which also serves as a shelter for community under hot sun.

6. Deterring birds:

   The top of the tower has reflective pieces to keep the birds away.

 

Additional applications:

There are many variations in the designing of Warka tower, depending upon their additional functionalities like:

Warka Solar:

• Serves as a charging station, by generating electricity via solar panels.
• Allows villagers to power mobile phones, and other electronic devices
• Offers an illuminated place to study and socialize after the sunset.

 

Warka Garden:

• Fresh vegetables are grown at the base of the tower. This can serve the food needs of up to three families using only a part of the water collected by the Tower.

Pros:

• Efficient:

  Depending upon the weather conditions, each tower can collect average 13-26 gallons (50-100 L) of potable water a day, sufficient enough to satisfy the thirst of a small community.

  The additional water is usful for irrigation, reforestation, or ecosystem regeneration.

• Economical and practical:

  Warka towers are cost effective. They can be made with local resources and require no heavy tools and machinery. This makes them suitable for remote communities and isolated regions.

• Needs no electricity:

  Tower relies only on natural phenomena such us gravity, condensation & evaporation and doesn’t require electrical power.

• Eco friendly:

  Tower mainly uses local natural and biodegradable materials which will not leave traces on the environment after removal

• Easy to erect:

  Warka tower is lightweight and relatively easy to pack, assemble or shift from one place to another if necessary. It takes just 1-2 hours to assemble the five modules into a finished tower.

• Needs no skilled labour:

  The lightweight structure of the tower is designed with parametric computing. It is also very easy to make at local level.  Locals can own, operate and build more such towers with basic training.

• Low Maintenance:

  It’s easy to maintain, clean and repair.

• Provides shelter and gathering place:

  Fabric canopies are used to gather, socialize and seek shelter from the sun, just as they would beneath a leafy Warka tree.

Cons:

• Dependent on weather:

  Efficiency of these towers highly depends on the weather conditions of that region, and their performance may vary with the season.

• Temporary Setup:

  Due to the materials used and overall design, the structure is more appropriate for a temporary setup and not something that lasts for years without getting damaged.

Impact:

In most of the drought affected/remote villages, access to fresh water is a constant battle and people have no other option but to walk several hours a day just for a glass of water.

These towers are proving to be a lifesaver by helping millions of people across rural areas in developing countries to gain access to potable water quickly and efficiently.

 

Can You Drink The Fog?

Fog-harvesting technology helps relieve water scarcity in arid regions

Climate change and population pressures have led to more unpredictable rainfall patterns and the depletion of natural water sources, such as underground aquifers, in many arid and semi-arid regions.

A fog harvesting project is introduced in various parts of the world to combat water scarcity.

Conceptual view of fog-harvesting technology Source

How it works?

This method can yield clean water in any area that experiences frequent, moving fog.

1. Installing nets:

• Giant nets are hung between two poles, along hillsides and mountaintops. These nets catch water out of thin air.

2. Capturing moisture:

• When wind pushes the fog through the net, water droplets are trapped.

3. Storing water:

• The condensed water drips down into a container at the base due to gravity.
• Then it gets transferred to reservoirs through pipes.

4. Large scale project:

• In some parts, the system is implemented on a larger scale and managed by the sophisticated companies.
• In such systems, the collected water is filtered and sometimes combined with underground water before being distributed to villages.
• Villagers pay a modest sum for the water to cover operating and maintenance costs

 

Fog Harp:

If the holes in the mesh are too large, water droplets pass through without catching on the net’s wires.

If the mesh is too fine, the nets catch more water, but the water droplets clog up the mesh without running down into the trough and wind no longer moves through the nets.

In order to catch more water without getting clogged up, a new design called ‘fog harp’ was introduced by simply removing the horizontal wires from the mesh and keeping only vertical wires. So that, the water can drip down easily without any resistance.

These vertical arrays keep catching more and more fog, but the clogging never happens.

The challenge:

In Morocco, fog is particularly seen between December to June. For years, the community saw this as a bad thing. They believed the fog prevented rainfall, turned fields to mud and made people ill.

They thought that, cloud/fog water would not be safe to drink.

Hence, at the beginning of the project, lots of people were reluctant and negative.

But slowly people started to get convinced. It resulted in quenching the thirst of thousands of the villagers.

 

Pros:

• Simple and practical:

  The concept behind fog collection is simple. This system is very useful in areas where conventional water delivery systems are not feasible.

 

• Reduces the burden on women:

  In most of the countries, it’s woman’s job to go and get water. Many kids even skip their schools to help their mothers in carrying water.

  Hence, earlier they used to spend at least four or five hours going to collect water every day from wells in neighbouring villages.

  But due to this technology, now they can utilize this time for more productive work at home and also can go to the school for their better future.

 

• Needs no skilled labour:

  Small scale projects are simple and easy to manage by local communities.

 

• Needs no electricity:

  The small-scale basic system relies only on natural phenomena such us gravity and condensation and doesn’t require electrical power. Large scale project may need more advanced infrastructure.

Cons:

• Dependent on weather:

  Efficiency of these fog capturing nets highly depends on the weather conditions of that region, and their performance varies with the season.

 

• High setup cost:

  Large scale project comes with the financial challenges, as the research and development, as well as the infrastructure and technology involved in expanding and developing fog collection projects, can be costly.

  Due to which, this technology might represent an investment risk unless a pilot project is first carried out to quantify the potential water rate yield.

  Hence, large scale projects are not economically viable for poor communities unless its initial cost is subsidized.

 

• Vulnerable to high winds:

  Low quality nets are vulnerable to damage during strong winds. It needs stronger nets to withstand the local high winds.

  (3D mesh is great for higher water yield and better strength.)

Impact:

The idea of harvesting fog was first developed in South America in the 1980s and there are other projects in Chile, Peru, Ghana, Eritrea, South Africa and California etc.

With the help of this technology, it possible to harvest between 10 -22 liters (approx. 2-6 gallons) of water per square meter of net, depending on the region and time of year.

In some of the largest fog harvesting projects, these nets collect an average of 6,000 liters (approx. 1600 gallons) of water each day which is enough to serve hundreds of people daily.

That’s a lot of clean water! Simply awesome!

 

This Solution Can Work Almost Everywhere

Atmospheric water generators are helping thousands of people in disaster affected areas.

Atmospheric water generator for disaster affected area Source

We have already seen many innovative water conservation techniques to produce freshwater from fog/ humidity in the air.

But what about the areas that are less conducive to fog or have very less humidity?

It’s always better to dig your well before you’re thirsty. But sometimes, we don’t even get enough time to make arrangements. Within a blink of an eye, disaster or a natural calamity shatters everything we have.

So, can we create something to produce freshwater in such situation that works in almost any climate?

Fortunately yes, we can do it with the help of atmospheric water generator.

This system is easy to transport from one place to another in case of emergency or any disaster. It can quench the thirst of thousands of people. Amazing! Isn’t it?

 

How it works?

• Attracting water molecules:

  Air contains approx. 1%-4% humidity (water molecules) depending upon the time and the climatic conditions of that region.

  Atmospheric water generation system captures and processes these naturally occurring water molecules from the air.

  During the process, a concentrated salt compound attracts and bonds with the water molecules in the air.

 

• Extracting water:

  A proprietary hygroscopic water extraction process removes the sodium concentrate from the liquid to deliver pure water.

  This system can collect and dispense hundreds to thousands of gallons of water daily in the areas with urgent and acute shortages of drinking water.

Pros

• Highly efficient:

  Atmospheric water generation system is ideal for areas with contaminated groundwater.

  This system is not based on humidity, which enables it to operate in almost any harsh environment like deserts or low humidity areas.

  It can also work as an emergency water station for disaster relief and on-site water production in challenged areas and even for military applications or gas and mineral exploration sites.

 

• Highly scalable:

  Atmospheric water generation system are useful for mobile as well as permanent applications.

  It can also be scaled to any size. Which means, it can serve small (less than hundred) as well as large (more than thousand) communities across the world.

 

• Power flexibility:

  Atmospheric water generation systems are energy efficient.
  We can supplement them with alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal etc.
  This also reduces the operation cost and production of the greenhouse gases.

 

• Eco-friendly:

  This system generates water even without using or producing toxic materials and byproducts, which assures minimum/ no damage to the environment.

• Cost-effective:

  Atmospheric water generation system are easy to transport (by air, sea or land) and operate.

  Since the machine extracts only water molecules from the air, it eliminates the need for complex and high-maintenance filtration systems such as Reverse Osmosis Purification.

  As a result, they are highly competitive in cost and more economical than many existing solutions in remote and challenged locations.

 

Impact:

This system has done wonders in Haiti and Saudi Arabia.

A 20-foot atmospheric water generator developed by Aqua Sciences produces 600 gallons (approx. 2271 litres) of water a day. They even have a contract with the US military.

Atmospheric water generator is a great option in case of:

• Disasters
• Natural calamities
• Regions with contaminated water systems
• For mass market applications.

 

 

Solution 4: Make the most of what we already have

Can You Grow Food With Sunlight And Seawater?

Seawater Greenhouse can grow crops in world’s harshest environments

Seawater Greenhouse can grow crops in world’s harshest environments | Vicharoo

It’s easy to grow fruits and vegetables with fresh water.

But what if you stay in a hot and arid region which has very less water?

Well, you can use a greenhouse then, which is water efficient and reliable.

These traditional greenhouses are really great. But they are too expensive for some regions and poor communities.

So, what if you are poor too?

We need to find a more cost effective alternative solution. This way, it would be feasible to all the people.

Another problem-what if you don’t have any source of freshwater?

Can we use seawater for farming?

Saltwater is abundant, but it’s generally poisonous to many plants.

Salt-filtering mangroves and few other plants are not fit for human consumption. These plants have no negative impact of saline water on them.

So, can you still do farming with this saline water?

Off-course you can!

Do you think I am crazy? Trust me. You can actually use saline water for farming or even for drinking.

You just have to convert it into fresh water first. This technology is comparatively cheaper too.

Let’s understand the concept.

How it works?

The idea behind the process is simple. It combines two unlimited resources – sunlight and seawater. It can provide ideal growing conditions for crops in hot and arid environments.

So, in simple words,

Sunlight + Seawater = Fresh water + Food

Now, let’s see the detailed process:

1. Pumping seawater:

• The seawater is pumped in from the sea.
• Then it drips over evaporator walls of the greenhouse.
• These walls look like honeycomb structure and are made up of specialized corrugated card pads, drenched in seawater.

2. Evaporation of water:

• The hot and dry wind of the local environment comes through these evaporator walls.
• This wind picks up the rapidly evaporating moisture and enters the greenhouses as water vapour.
• Fans push water vapour through the interior of the structure.
• In case of low cost projects, natural wind is used instead of fans to cut costs.

3. Oasis effect:

• The evaporation process cools down the indoor environment.
• As a result, the temperature inside the greenhouses drops from 45°C (113° F) to 25°C (77° F).
• The presence of this water vapour also raises the humidity inside to 99%
• This creates an optimised environment ‘oasis effect’ to grow crops.

4. Freshwater formation:

• The resulting water vapour condenses on the cold pipes, forming fresh water.
• So, this system actually turns seawater into fresh water using solar energy.
• This desalinated fresh water slowly gets filled in the storage tanks.
• It is then used to quench the thirst of both the plants and villagers alike!

5. Utilization of by-products:

• The salt concentrates on the evaporator walls and drains into waiting tanks beneath the walls.
• It eventually gets turned into sea salt.
• This salt is then sold in the market.
• Other minerals are used as crop nutrients.
• Brine (salt + chemicals) left over from the Reverse Osmosis (RO) desalination process is used for cooling
• So, pollution from the brine is avoided.

Pros:

Freshwater production:

• The fresh water produced is pure and distilled from seawater. It needs no chemical treatment to make it drinkable.

Good for environment:

• No fossil fuels:
  Seawater greenhouse systems do not rely on gas or other fossil fuels like traditional greenhouses.
  Instead, they use the two things that parched coastal regions happen to have in spades-seawater and sunlight to control the growing environments, with equal effectiveness.

 

• No Pesticides:
  The seawater evaporators have a biocidal and scrubbing effect on the ventilation airflow. This greatly reduces/ eliminates the need for pesticides.

This makes it more sustainable option from environmental perspective.

Turns barren land into fertile land:

• Seawater Greenhouse technology requires only 1/10th the water than does traditional agriculture.
• Hence, it can create ideal growing conditions for crops even in the world’s most hostile, hot and arid regions that are normally considered unsuitable for agriculture.
• This way, drought-stricken communities in the world can successfully grow and harvest crops.
• They can also benefit from year-round production of high-value horticultural produce.

Cost-effective:

• The system does not rely on scarce fresh water, costly desalination equipment or fossil-fuel driven greenhouse climate control systems.
• So, it significantly reduces the capital and operating costs of greenhouse horticulture.
• Hence, it is both affordable and accessible to the rural poor.

Creates self-sufficiency:

• By enabling farming, this technology not only reduces the burden of importing expensive vegetables from other regions, but also encourages the growth of local industries for faster economic progress.

 

Impact:

The first pilot project commenced in 1992 at Canary Island of Tenerife (Spain). The results from the pilot project validated the concept and demonstrated the potential for other arid regions.

Over the past few years, this technology has created wonders in many hot and arid regions worldwide like…

• Somaliland (Africa)-one of the most food insecure countries in the world,
• Jordan-a water-poor country that is 90% desert,
• Bone-dry South Australia,
• Qatar, Oman, Abu Dhabi and Tunisia etc.

There is approx. 50-75% reduction in capital costs and10-40% reduction in operating costs as compared to traditional heated greenhouses.

So, if you are staying in a region which has no fresh water, but plenty of sunlight and saline water, just go for it.

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Did you knew about all these methods? Do you know any other water conservation techniques?

Please comment and don’t forget to share this article with your friends.

Let’s share knowledge for the betterment of our future!

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References:

• https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/green-tech/a8875/a-billboard-that-condenses-water-from-humidity-15393050/
• http://www.warkawater.org/project/
• https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/dec/26/cloud-fishing-reels-in-precious-water-villagers-rural-morocco-dar-si-hmad
• https://www.baysidefogcollectors.com/
• http://www.aquasciences.com/tech_eng.shtml
• https://seawatergreenhouse.com/technology/https://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/blogs/innovative-greenhouses-boost-agriculture-worlds-harshest-environments