While drinking water is becoming an increasingly rare commodity and part of humanity does not have access to it, a start-up French has created a very useful device. It is a solar dome capable of transforming salty or polluted water into drinking water.
As the association Action contre la Faim explains, no less than 2.2 billion people did not have access to drinking water in 2019. In addition, 785 million people did not have a basic drinking water supply service and 144 million of them had to use surface water. In many places, drinking water is therefore very scarce.
Research therefore regularly tries to develop ways to obtain drinking water. In 2020, researchers at MIT (United States) invented a device using the heat of the Sun to extract water vapor from the ambient air before collecting the water. The advantage is that this device can work almost anywhere. A publication in Designboom on May 14, 2022 details another device:HelioWater. Developed by a French start-up, this system has received the support of Rotary International wishing to make drinking water available to all .
"Drinking water is a rare commodity, because 20% of the world's population does not have access to it. One of the strategic focuses of Rotary International is water supply and sanitation. Our objective ? Contribute to making drinking water accessible to populations in need" , can we read on the official website of HelioWater.
The HelioWater device is a dome for obtaining drinking water from water unfit for consumption, whether salty or polluted. The dome runs on solar energy and is totally independent. Every day, the dome can produce around ten liters of water. Also, even if the adequate quantity of drinking water represents at least twenty liters of water per inhabitant per day, the system still offers the beginning of a solution.
Concretely, the system uses a distillation and mineralization process , fully guaranteeing good water quality. The dome is divided into two parts by a special filter. Non-potable water is pumped directly from the source, rises, then evaporates under the effect of heat. This eventually condenses on the walls of the dome and flows, passing through the filter before reaching the tank.
Made to operate for thirty years, the HelioWater device is resistant to the vagaries of the weather. According to its creators, its mission is to invest in places where drinking water is not available. Examples include refugee camps, and any arid and isolated area. Rotary International and HelioWater are also leading a major project in Madagascar, a country where 25% of deaths of children under 5 are linked to the lack of drinking water.
