When you consider that a machine such as Aqua Science's can take costs from $15 or more per gallon of water delivered to disaster zones down to as little as 15 cents per gallon, the figures speak for themselves. To get water to troops in Iraq, the bottles are currently shipped in C-17 cargo planes and then put on trucks at a total cost of $30 a gallon. An Aqua Sciences machine - purchase cost included - reduces the price to around 30 cents a gallon.
That's good if you're after industrial-sized machines, but what about smaller units? Ecoloblue, for example, offers a 110cm tall 'Model 28' for the office and home that filters water via nanometer sterilization and UV lamps. It's expensive ($1350 - approximately £829) but only requires a small amount of electricity to work and can provide up to 7 gallons of hot or cold drinking water per day, plus it can store 4 gallons in its storage tanks.
$600 billion is currently invested in outdated water delivery systems that are expensive and wasteful. Dirty, unsafe drinking water causes diseases such as Malaria and Schistosomiasis that account for 88% of all diseases on the planet. Atmospheric Water Generators will ultimately benefit our entire ecosystem and beyond. NASA, for example, can use AWGs in space stations as a sustainable water supply - all they need is oxygen, which they'll already be pumping in so the astronauts can breathe!
However, there is a catch. For one thing, some AWGs do not work efficiently at high altitudes where there's little oxygen, in very cold environments (-35°F) or in places with less than 35% humidity. Aqua Sciences' mobile water machines are selling well specifically because they don't rely on the cooling techniques other AWGs use and can function in only 14% humidity.
AWGs are another step in the right direction for us to clean up our planet and fight drought, so in the future when you're thirsty, just have a nice cup of air.
EDITOR'S NOTE: We here at Virtual Generation would like to thank Peter Janiak at Ecoloblue, whose work helped to inspire this feature. For more information, you can e-mail via peterjaniak *at* ecoloblue.com
Resources:
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/10/71898
http://www.aquasciences.com/index.htm
http://www.aquasciences.com/IBD103006.pdf
http://www.ecoloblue.com/en/home-office?location=feature_link
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/17/eco.about.water/
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/challenges/lcross3/final/stoica9F.pdf
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