Around 2.2 billion people in the world don’t have access to drinking water services that are managed safely. This happens on a planet that is 71% covered by that essential element for life. What seems like a contradiction, may actually be the key challenge for the future of humanity: How can we turn the seawater of the oceans into drinking water. The answer seems to be located in a small town in Kenya, near the border of Somalia.
According to W.H.O and a report published by UNICEF, one in every three people lack access to clean drinkable water, and the situation is even worse in Africa. This is the reason the GivePower NGO chose the small village of Kenya, Kiunga, to turn Indian Ocean’s salty water into drinkable ‘sweet’ water. This project has been operating since last year and it looks promising.
A typical desalination plant consumes high amounts of power, the process is expensive, and it can only operate in areas that have enough facilities to produce and distribute that much energy. The NGO solved these problems by using a technology they call “solar water farms,” which involve the installation of solar panels that are able to produce 50 kilowatts of energy, high-performance Tesla batteries to store it, and 2 water pumps that operate 24 hours a day.
The system can generate drinking water for 35,000 people every day. Besides, according to GivePower, the water quality is better than that of a typical desalination plant. Plus it doesn’t even have the negative environmental impact that the process usually causes since the extraction of salt produces saline residues and pollutants that are harmful to animals and plants.
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