There’s a lot of talking about an impending water crisis. But you know what - it is already here! Lack of access to clean, safe drinking water is creating conflict, dividing communities and leaving millions dehydrated, ill and inconvenienced. By 2030 the UN estimates that half the world's population will live in water stressed areas.
For some communities their only access to water is the via the weekly visit of the water truck.
For others obtaining water can take hours from their working day as
they travel miles to visit wells. And for many in the developing world
the water they drink is far from pure and may contain bugs or chemicals, which are detrimental to their health. Water is also an issue in regions from California to Australia to Abu Dhabi to Cyprus.
Today we
estimate that there are over a billion people on the planet who don’t
have constant access to clean safe water. That’s a billion too many.
It seems so obvious doesnt it? But when we went out and studied the market and the patents that had been
filed, we could not find anything that matched the Desolenator for
efficiency, low cost over its lifetime and water yield. Sometimes the
best inventions are the ones that seem really obvious.
Aren't there other drinking water and desalination technologies on the market?
Existing
solutions are not viable. Over 97% of the world's water is in our seas and
oceans with only 1% of the worlds water supply available for drinking.
Unlike food or energy water cannot be replaced or replenished - we have a
finite amount of it on earth. With populations increasing
exponentially and the effects of climate change growing, water is looking like THE critical resource issue facing humanity.
What is clear is that if humanity is going to address the water crisis we must transform sea water into drinking water in a sustainable way.
Many
countries have adopted large scale desalination technologies, enormous
plants that require huge costs to set up and to run as well as vast
amounts of energy powered by fossil fuels. Did you know that whilst 0.7% of the worlds water supply comes from large scale desalination, its at the cost of 0.5% of the worlds total energy supply?
There
are smaller 'reverse osmosis' systems on the market, but these come at a
high capital cost and require significant maintenance and use of
consumables such as filters. They also use a LOT of energy.
Solar
stills were invented over 200 years ago and can effectively desalinate
water, however the yields are low and not sufficient to provide enough
drinking water for a family over the long term. They also do not come
cheaply. If you want to purchase a leading solar still today it can cost
upwards of $300 - for an old technology with a low yield we think this
is not viable.
What do you mean by 'water stress'?
In
developing countries people often have to walk miles to fetch water on a
daily basis. What do you think a mother could do with those 2 or 3
extra hours a day? Many people around the world get their water via a
water truck coming to their village. The water truck is irregular and
drinking water will still need to be boiled to be ready for consumption. It is also expensive - we have met families in South India that pay
up to $16 a week for all of their water! By 2030 the UN estimates that
HALF the worlds population will be living in water stressed areas and
that's the full gamut from 'extreme' water stress (think of the skeleton
coast in Namibia) through to mild water stress. You can read more about
this here: http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/scarcity.shtml
The Desolenator seems expensive for a base of pyramid family. How are you going to get this to a billion people?
The
capital cost of the Desolenator is a lot for many people. However as the
system lasts for up to 20 years, has no consumables, no filters, needs
no energy and only requires basic maintenance, this cost can be
mitigated. We are looking at various business models including micro-finance,
shared ownership and more. Our first systems will be embedded with
remote monitoring capabilities so that end users will be able to only
pay a small amount on a pay per use basis and also we can keep an eye on
maintenance and servicing needs. There is not an easy answer to this
but we are looking at all options to get Desolenators to families that
need them most and in a way that is affordable.
Desolenator seems to be doing well, winning the Climate KiC Clean Launch Pad award, so why crowdfund?
Building
a clean technology device is not easy and not cheap and the work on
Desolenator so far has been out of pocket expenses provided by the founders. Yes
we have won awards, and yes we have a well functioning prototype, however
we need your help to accelerate the development and start getting
Desolenators out there to people who need them most. It is also about
building our community. Crowdfunding gives us a global platform to
educate people about the water crisis humanity is facing and a way to
channel their energies to do something about it!
Who are iXspark?
iXspark is a social innovation and clean tech incubator in London and Kerala India who have supported the development of the Desolenator venture so far.
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