3 Water Technologies That Could Save Us
Our water resources are limited and face mounting pressures from climate change, pollution, population growth, and aging water infrastructure. Technology innovation can help address our water challenges and help put us on a more sustainable path while also supporting economic growth.
Nanotechnology in filtration: According to the World Health Organization, 1.6 million people die each year from diarrheal diseases attributable to lack of safe drinking water as well as basic sanitation. Researchers in India have come up with a solution to this perennial problem with a water purification system using nanotechnology.
The technology removes microbes, bacteria and other matter from water using composite nano particles, which emit silver ions that destroy contaminants.
Seawater desalination: Although holding much promise for the future, seawater desalination is still extremely expensive, with reverse osmosis technology consuming a vast amount of energy: around 4 kilowatt hours of energy for every cubic meter of water.
One solution being explored in Singapore, which opened its first seawater desalination plant in 2005, is biomimicry – mimicking the biological processes by which mangrove plants and euryhaline fish (fish that can live in fresh briny or salt water) extract seawater using minimal energy. Another new approach is to use biomimetic membranes enhanced with aquaporin: proteins embedded in cell membranes that selectively shuttle water in and out of cells while blocking out salts.
Intelligent irrigation: Approximately 70% of the world’s freshwater is used by the agricultural industry. Applying a more intelligent approach to water management by deploying precision irrigation systems and computer algorithms and modelling is already beginning to bring benefits to farmers in developed countries.
However, while this approach embraces new instrumentation and analytical technologies, innovation comes from a change in mindset that emphasizes the importance of measuring and forecasting.