Water: Where will it come from in 2050?

[Michaelangelica]

If you look at the above chart, you will see one untapped source of water is the air.
H2O in the air is a greenhouse gas and its concentration is said to be risng .
So look at this

Device aims to harvest water from air

Device aims to harvest water from air - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Making water out of thin air

Friday, 2 March 2007 Anna Salleh
ABC
sky

Could a wind turbine that sucks water out of the air supply enough water for the whole world? (Image: iStockphoto)
Related Stories

* Backyard windmill may cut electricity bill, Science Online, 05 May 2006

A wind-driven device could provide an unlimited water supply by harvesting water from the air, says its Australian inventor. But critics are asking if it's too good to be true. Dr Max Whisson, a retired medical specialist turned inventor, says he has designed a highly efficient wind turbine that can run a refrigeration system to cool air and condense moisture from it. "The wind carries in the water and [provides] the power required to separate that water from the wind," says Whisson, who is based in Perth. He says there is a huge amount of water in the atmosphere that is replaced every few hours.
. . .
If the system does work, it is unlikely to backfire on the environment, says Dr Michael Coughlan, of Australia's Bureau of Meteorology. He says the amount of water that humans would use is trivial compared with the amount available in the atmosphere. "If you can tap into it, then go for it, because you would do little to upset the hydrological cycle," says Coughlan.

Tags: environment, computers-and-technology, engineering

Making water out of thin air (ABC News in Science)
Surely off-peak or base power energy from Mainline Power Stations could also be used? You would think such a device would work even better at night with falling air temperatures?
Other articles on this
The Age Blogs: Renovation Nation
Water from wind | The Australian
Whisson Windmill –Water From Air

The Whisson windmill essentially is a wind turbine, connected to a refrigeration compressor. A compressed refrigerant cools the blades of the wind turbine, after which it is returned to a compressor.

Design is possible with just one turbine or a bank of turbines.

Wind drives the cooled blades of the turbine and water is then condensed from the ambient air. This water is then collected. And... "Bob’s your uncle”. "

More information

Do you want to know more about what drives Dr Max Whisson and get some broader background information? Then go check out his WaterUNlimited website here. Here you can find a transcript of Australian ABC's "The New Inventors" TV program featuring Dr Whisson's work. And you can view that program right here. Very interesting!

ATTENTION! For more information, on water from air machines that are available right now go here.
One operates on Whisson's condensation principle. The other runs on salt! Yes indeed...

Meanwhile, here is another innovative and simple bit of technology to grow your plants on an absolute minimum of water requirements.

And another way to use the power of water evaporation to keep cool while you're checking them 'out there' in the hot sun.

Whisson Windmill –Water From Air




Also arecent de-desalinateor from The Inventors an ABC Tv show
New Inventors: Solar Water Purifier

[Michaelangelica]

For some reason, I find this sickening

That report, Watching Water: a Guide to Evaluating Corporate Risks in a Thirsty World produced by JPMorgan Global Equity Research with WRI, explores water scarcity as an emerging investment issue and suggests ways for investors to better account for water-related risks.

These risks are obvious in industries such as agriculture, but they are looming large in other sectors such as power generation, manufacturing, or food and beverages.

The possible impacts from greater water scarcity include the disruption of supply chains or production processes, higher water costs , more stringent (and expensive) government regulation, and the delay or suppression of further growth

.
Increasing Water Scarcity Increases Business Vulnerability, and Investor Questions | World Resources Institute

[Michaelangelica]

A special report in Scientific American
In-Depth Report: Confronting a World Freshwater Crisis
As the global population grows--and freshwater supplies dwindle--ensuring that everyone has sufficient supplies of life-giving H2O has become an enormous challenge. Here's how to start.

Note: This is a one time sample email of our new "In-Depth Report Alert." You have received this email because you have opted-in to receive emails from Scientific American. To continue receiving this weekly email alert please click here.

Facing the Freshwater Crisis: Scientific American
photo FEATURE
Facing the Freshwater Crisis
As demand for freshwater soars, planetary supplies are becoming unpredictable.


photo SLIDE SHOW
Watering a Thirsty World
See how overstretched freshwater supplies will increasingly influence the way we live.


photo QUIZ
20 Questions: Freshwater
Test your knowledge about freshwater and its use


photo PODCAST
60-Second Science: Running Out of Water
A podcast interview with SciAm editor Steve Ashley about useful steps we can take now to keep the water running.


photo FEATURE
Top 10 Water Wasters: From Washing Dishes to Watering the Desert
The many ways we squander water, from unintentional leaks to outright negligence


photo SLIDE SHOW
A Six-Point Plan to Avert a Global Freshwater Crisis
Policymakers need to figure out how to supply water without degrading the natural ecosystems that provide it.


photo FEATURE
Freshwater Conservation: Drip by Drip
Doing small things consistently over time-if enough people participate-can make a dent, even in a global problem.


photo ASK THE EXPERTS
Why don't we get our drinking water from the ocean by taking the salt out of seawater?
Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, distills an answer


photo FEATURE
Get Involved in Freshwater Conservation
To find out more about your local water situation, check in with your local water authority


photo MAP
Freshwater Crisis Map: Current Situation
Lots of water, but not always where it is needed


photo MAP
Freshwater Crisis Map: Looming Shortages
Models examining the effects of climate change and of population and economic growth on water availability by 2025 indicate that climate change alone will bring scarcity to many places.

Sign Up for other Scientific American Newsletters | Manage Your Profile | Forward to a Friend

[Michaelangelica]

Seen on an ABC 'opinion" page

You said it

Fri Aug 1, 2008 10:48am AEST
Wouldn't it be amazing to spend the same money on finding conserving and preserving water on Earth as they have to discover a drop on Mars. - Pantelis Roussakis

[Moontanman]

Wouldn't it be amazing if people would realize just how tiny an amount of money the Mars explorers really cost compared to all the money wasted on telling every one how much better we could be spending our money

[Michaelangelica]

New Chlorine-tolerant Desalination Membrane Hopes To Boost Access To Clean Water

ScienceDaily (July 23, 2008) — A chemical engineering professor at The University of Texas at Austin is part of a team that has developed a chlorine-tolerant membrane that should simplify the water desalination process, increasing access to fresh water and possibly reducing greenhouse gases.

New Chlorine-tolerant Desalination Membrane Hopes To Boost Access To Clean Water

Engineers Develop Revolutionary Nanotech Water Desalination Membrane

ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2006) — Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have announced they have developed a new reverse osmosis (RO) membrane that promises to reduce the cost of seawater desalination and wastewater reclamation.
. . .
The new membrane, developed by civil and environmental engineering assistant professor Eric Hoek and his research team, uses a uniquely cross-linked matrix of polymers and engineered nanoparticles designed to draw in water ions but repel nearly all contaminants. These new membranes are structured at the nanoscale (the width of human hair is approximately 100,000 nanometers) to create molecular tunnels through which water flows more easily than contaminants.

Engineers Develop Revolutionary Nanotech Water Desalination Membrane

Bacteria And Nanofilters: Future Of Clean Water Technology

ScienceDaily (Feb. 27, 2008) — Bacteria often get bad press, with those found in water often linked to illness and disease. But researchers at The University of Nottingham are using these tiny organisms alongside the very latest membrane filtration techniques to improve and refine water cleaning technology.

Bacteria And Nanofilters: Future Of Clean Water Technology

[Michaelangelica]

LifeStraw : The Most Humanistic Gadget Ever

The journalist surely could have coe up with abetter title than this for such amarvelous device; that has the potential to save so many lives.

LifeStraw is an instrument which instantly purifies the water and makes it ready to drink with the chromatographic techniques and other well-known filter methods. A single personal LifeStraw gadget can process 700 liters of water in a year and usage life is 3 years. 2 liters a day is a great start to develop such products for future.

http://hypography.com/forums/newrepl...streply&t=9628

VF in the News
LifeStraw® Personal has been referred to as 'One of the Ten Things that will Change the Way We Live´ by Forbes Magazine
Bullet
LifeStraw® Family delivers water as per EPA guidelines for microbiological water purifiers
Bullet
"LifeStraw® is a very simple and elegant solution to a problem that kills millions of people. Let's get it out there," commented musician and humanitarian Peter Gabriel.
Bullet
February 2008, LifeStraw® Personal receives the Saatchi & Saatchi Award for World Changing Ideas in New York..

Vestergaard Frandsen : LifeStraw®
Vestergaard Frandsen : LifeStraw® Personal – Specifications
I wonder if it can be used on salt water?
If so every life-boat should have one.

How much do they cost?

• Drinking Water Crisis
• Arrow More than one billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water - i.e. around 1/6th of the world's population.
  (Source: Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council)
  
• Arrow The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 6 km.
  
  
• The average weight of water that women in Africa and Asia carry on their heads can be anything up to 20kg - the equivalent of your airport luggage allowance.
  (Source: Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council)
  
• Diarrhoea kills over 1.8 million people per year and chronic diarrhoea is a leading killer of people with AIDS.
  (Source: World Health Organization)
  
• In Africa, diarrhoea is four times more common among children with HIV and seven times more common among adults with HIV than their HIV-negative household members.
  (Source: Mermin J, et al.)
  
• Arrow Diarrhoea affects up to 90% of HIV patients. (Source: Bartlett JG, et al.)
  
• Arrow Diarrhoea is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among HIV-infected children.
  (Source: PEPFAR)
  
• Arrow "In a study among HIV-infected persons in Uganda, use of safe water decreased diarrhoeal illness by 36 percent".
  (The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief)

http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/...ter-facts.htm:)

[Michaelangelica]

Confronting a World Freshwater Crisis

As the global population grows--and freshwater supplies dwindle--ensuring that everyone has sufficient supplies of life-giving H2O has become an enormous challenge. Here's how to start.
Confronting a World Freshwater Crisis: In-Depth Reports

[Michaelangelica]

Confronting a World Freshwater Crisis

As the global population grows--and freshwater supplies dwindle--ensuring that everyone has sufficient supplies of life-giving H2O has become an enormous challenge. Here's how to start.
Confronting a World Freshwater Crisis: In-Depth Reports

[charles brough]

Michaelangelica, you sure started off this thread with a bang with all those references! No one is arguing with you about the need to protect our fresh water rescourses---as well as the oceans too!

Taking an over-all position that the problem is dismally real, it seems to me that the cause is that we think we can continue to expand in population on this Earth indefinitely. Perhaps, with good science and effective environmental laws and enforcement, we could go on for a few more decades without ending up beating ourselves up with atomic bombs, because of each side trying to get more of the water, oil, land etc. that is left.

We are all of one race, the human race, but we are divided by old religions which make each side compete ever more forcefully for a bigger stake in those shrinking natural resources. As long as we are divided by those old religions, this can be expected to continue . . .