I agree Tecnology will help but we need to start thinking about the problem now
Quote:
What's gone wrong?
As our world heats up, as pollution increases, as population grows and as our globe's resources of fresh water are tapped, we are faced with an environmental and humanitarian problem of mammoth proportions.
Demand for water is doubling every 20 years, outpacing population growth twice as fast. Currently 1.3 billion people don't have access to clean water and 2.5 billion lack proper sewage and sanitation. In less than 20 years, it is estimated that demand for fresh water will exceed the world's supply by over 50 percent.
The biggest drain on our water sources is agriculture, which accounts for 70 percent of the water used worldwide -- much of which is subsidized in the industrial world, providing little incentive for agribusiness to use conservation measures or less water-intensive crops.
. . .
. . .
Some see technology as the necessary fix -- or at least a step in the right direction. As the BBC reports:
New technology can help, however, especially by cleaning up pollution and so making more water useable, and in agriculture, where water use can be made far more efficient. Drought-resistant plants can also help.
Drip irrigation drastically cuts the amount of water needed, low-pressure sprinklers are an improvement, and even building simple earth walls to trap rainfall is helpful.
Some countries are now treating waste water so that it can be used -- and drunk -- several times over.
Desalinization makes sea water available, but takes huge quantities of energy and leaves vast amounts of brine.
But many warn against relying on a "techno-fix" to solve our problems.
|
AlterNet: Environment: Our Drinkable Water Supply Is Vanishing
This seems like an interesting idea.
Linking the de-humidifiers (see previous posts) with afree energy source. Sound ideal as long as you have some wind
Quote:
The windmill that produces water out of air
His solution is an innovative windmill which, unlike the conventional three blades, has several blades arranged around a vertical column that can take wind from any direction.
The secret lies in a cooling process kicked off by the blades which propel the air into a "chiller" box where water molecules condense on specially designed plates.
Whisson points to ancient tribes in the area that is now Ukraine who used pyramid-shaped rock structures to cool air and produce their water.
The design of his collection plates was also assisted by analysing the body of a beetle that has adapted to its harsh desert environment in Namibia.
The beetle gets drinking water from fog which condenses on its back before trickling down to its mouth.
That provided the inspiration for fog-harvesting nets used in arid mountainous areas of Africa, South America and Asia, but Whisson believes his design has bigger potential.
Wind powers not only the blades, but also the refrigeration process. Although water can be produced in a breeze as gentle as 2km/h, stronger winds generate more power and therefore water. Even better, the hotter the temperature, the more water the air contains.
|
IOL: The windmill that produces water out of air
More here
WATER UN LIMITED - Potentially the world's first continuous source of water
Max Water News
30.05.07: The Max Water features on the 'saving water special' on ABC's 'The New Inventors'
22.05.07: Fantastic ABC 'Australian Story' documentary on inventor Max Whisson
15.03.07: Alternative Energy Sources online article
