Mineralizing rivers, desalinating oceans, drilling into the ground. There are many different ways to access drinking water in places where it’s in short supply. But with overpopulation, climate change and increasing water scarcity, innovators have been on the lookout for a new solution – and some are convinced the answer is up in the air.
SOURCE Global is one of the many companies around the world extracting water from the air, with the hope of helping water-scarce communities. However, its technology has a sustainable twist. Named Hydropanels, its devices are powered by built-in solar panels.
“You’re able to harvest water from the air using solar and nothing else, no need for electricity, no need for (a) grid, no need for infrastructure – it’s perfectly self-sufficient,” explains Vahid Fotuhi, the company’s vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Atmospheric water generators (AWGs), like SOURCE’s, are machines that produce potable water from surrounding air. These devices have been around for about a decade and traditionally they’re based on condensation – cooling water vapor to collect water droplets.
This process, however, can consume a lot of electricity and many of these early technologies only work in places with high air humidity. These constraints are what prompted SOURCE, formerly known as Zero Mass Water, to develop a more flexible and sustainable solution.
Its solar panels power a fan that draws in air. Inside the device, the air travels through a sponge-like material that traps the water vapor. As it is collected, magnesium and calcium are added to the water to improve its taste and provide possible health benefits. This means that mineralized drinking water can be produced from the air with renewable energy and zero waste.
In Dubai, where the company’s largest water farm is located, it produces 1.5 million liters of water every year. SOURCE plans to create a plastic-free bottled water brand and sell it to hotels and resorts, at about the same price as other bottled water brands.
most water-scarce in the world, home to just one percent of the world’s freshwater resources.” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” loading=’lazy’/>
Photos: The Middle East and North Africa’s battle against water scarcity
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Water scarcity —
Earth’s surface is 71 percent water, but the Middle East and North Africa have access to barely any of it. The region is the most water-scarce in the world, home to just one percent of the world’s freshwater resources.
a report from the World Bank.
Pictured here: Crop circles in Saudi Arabia draw on groundwater for irrigation. ” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” loading=’lazy’/>
Photos: The Middle East and North Africa’s battle against water scarcity
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DigitalGlobe/Getty Images
Groundwater —
Countries in the region are withdrawing water from underground reservoirs faster than it can be replenished. This is mainly to irrigate farmland: agriculture accounts for nearly 80% of water usage in MENA, according to a report from the World Bank.
Pictured here: Crop circles in Saudi Arabia draw on groundwater for irrigation.
Photos: The Middle East and North Africa’s battle against water scarcity
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Groundwater —
Libya relies on its subterranean aquifers. Since 1991, the Great Man-Made River — a network of underground pipes — has carried groundwater from southern Libya to places like the Ajdabiya reservoir, pictured here, on the northern coast.
75% of worldwide desalinated water is produced in MENA, at plants like this one in Tel Aviv, Israel. ” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” loading=’lazy’/>
Photos: The Middle East and North Africa’s battle against water scarcity
To overcome water scarcity and meet increasing demand, MENA countries have long been producing their own water. A popular method is to separate salt from seawater in a process called desalination. Approximately 75% of worldwide desalinated water is produced in MENA, at plants like this one in Tel Aviv, Israel.
World Bank calculations, making it the largest desalination market in the world. Desalination is widely practiced in the oil-rich nations of the Gulf, at plants like this one in Qatar.” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” loading=’lazy’/>
Photos: The Middle East and North Africa’s battle against water scarcity
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Alamy/Alamy Stock Photo
Desalination —
MENA accounts for nearly half of the world’s desalination capacity, according to World Bank calculations, making it the largest desalination market in the world. Desalination is widely practiced in the oil-rich nations of the Gulf, at plants like this one in Qatar.
International Desalination Association, more than 300 million people around the world rely on desalinated water for their everyday needs.” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” loading=’lazy’/>
Photos: The Middle East and North Africa’s battle against water scarcity
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Alamy/Alamy Stock Photo
Photos: The Middle East and North Africa’s battle against water scarcity
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Yann Arthus-Bertrand/Getty Images
Desalination —
But desalination in the Middle East has a significant environmental costbecause it relies on energy-intensive thermal desalination plants. Waste left over from the process is often discharged into the sea and can damage marine ecosystems. Here, discharge from a plant in Kuwait flows into the Persian Gulf.
Photos: The Middle East and North Africa’s battle against water scarcity
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Wastewater treatment —
Another nonconventional water resource is treated wastewater. Wastewater is typically recycled at treatment plants, like this one in Jordan, for use in irrigation.
Photos: The Middle East and North Africa’s battle against water scarcity
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Wastewater treatment —
Physical, chemical and biological processes are used to remove contaminants from wastewater.
World Bank report, 57 percent of the wastewater collected in MENA is returned to the environment untreated. ” class=”gallery-image__dam-img” loading=’lazy’/>
Photos: The Middle East and North Africa’s battle against water scarcity
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Wastewater treatment —
However, according to a World Bank report, 57 percent of the wastewater collected in MENA is returned to the environment untreated.
Photos: The Middle East and North Africa’s battle against water scarcity
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MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Cloud seeding —
The United Arab Emirates has invested in another solution to tackle the water problem — rainfall-enhancing technology called cloud seeding. During cloud seeding missions, aircraft eject salt crystals from flares mounted on their wings to stimulate condensation and the growth of water droplets.
Photos: The Middle East and North Africa’s battle against water scarcity
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Jumana Jolie/Getty Images.
Cloud seeding —
The UAE conducted 242 cloud seeding missions in 2017, the National Center of Meteorology and Seismology told CNN.
Photos: The Middle East and North Africa’s battle against water scarcity
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MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Cloud seeding —
“Rain enhancement has the potential to offer a more cost effective, sustainable and much less environmentally damaging option than other solutions, such as desalination,” Alya Al Mazroui, Director of the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science told CNN. The salts used for seeding are “no more toxic than table salts,” she added.
Photos: The Middle East and North Africa’s battle against water scarcity
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DeAgostini/Getty Images
Rainwater harvesting —
Rainwater harvesting is another low-cost solution in the region whereby rainwater runoff is collected, filtered and stored for use. Such measures have been used for millennia in the region, according to the World Bank. Tanks and cisterns — such as this one in Yemen — provide important supply sources for many rural and urban communities.
SOURCE has installed its hydropanels around the world at hospitals, schools and work sites that have difficulties accessing water. It has also attracted commercial clients – particularly in countries catering to tourists in isolated landscapes, such as the desert.
“In the Middle East, we’ve seen a lot of interest in the hospitality sector as big brands look for a more sustainable solution for water to accommodates Millennials, who are looking for demonstrated sustainability,” says Fotuhi.
SOURCE Global, PBC
Hydropanels installed at a school in Veresdale, Australia.
Currently, SOURCE’s flagship hospitality offering is in a luxury desert camp in Dubai, where its Hydropanels produce drinking water on site. Fotuhi believes it shows the scalability of these water generators, which could operate as one panel in a family home to or a number installed at large hotel resorts. Its next partnership will be in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast, where a development company is aiming to build 18 hotels that will serve SOURCE’s water.
According to Keith Hays, vice president of Bluefield Research, an advisory firm that addresses water challenges, SOURCE’s design is different from other AWGs because it combines solar-based power supply and water capture mechanism within the same structure, enabling off-grid operation. “Other systems usually have a separate panel or connect to the grid,” he explains.
Over 2 billion people live in countries experiencing high water stress and while the dozens of companies working on AWGs hope their devices will help solve this crisis, that would be unlikely, according to Hays.
High up-front costs mean it takes around 10 years for AWGs to be cost-competitive, he says and they generally produce a fraction of the water that a well or seawater desalination system can supply.
Plus, Hays says, AWGs require significant land, and distribution networks that aren’t as ubiquitous as other water solutions. He believes AWGs are more efficient when combined with other water supplies. “They can be seen as a complement to existing drinking water systems, reducing (the) footprint of plastics and offering auxiliary support,” he says.
This challenge is something that Fotuhi acknowledges, explaining that Hydropanels require the tap or a bottling facility to be nearby, and not every situation allows that. But but he believes they offer clear environmental benefits.
“Looking at the savings from an environmental perspective and from a sustainability point of view, the value proposition remains very strong,” says Fotuhi.