clean water Archives - Zureli

Search for any green Service

Find green products from around the world in one place

Window cleaning

Singapore Safety Glass

Desalination system could produce freshwater that is cheaper than tap water

Posted on October 2, 2023 by dishanth

Engineers at MIT and in China are aiming to turn seawater into drinking water with a completely passive device that is inspired by the ocean, and powered by the sun.

In a paper appearing in the journal Joule, the team outlines the design for a new solar desalination system that takes in saltwater and heats it with natural sunlight.

The configuration of the device allows water to circulate in swirling eddies, in a manner similar to the much larger “thermohaline” circulation of the ocean. This circulation, combined with the sun’s heat, drives water to evaporate, leaving salt behind. The resulting water vapor can then be condensed and collected as pure, drinkable water. In the meantime, the leftover salt continues to circulate through and out of the device, rather than accumulating and clogging the system.

The new system has a higher water-production rate and a higher salt-rejection rate than all other passive solar desalination concepts currently being tested.

The researchers estimate that if the system is scaled up to the size of a small suitcase, it could produce about 4–6 liters of drinking water per hour and last several years before requiring replacement parts. At this scale and performance, the system could produce drinking water at a rate and price that is cheaper than tap water.

“For the first time, it is possible for water, produced by sunlight, to be even cheaper than tap water,” says Lenan Zhang, a research scientist in MIT’s Device Research Laboratory.

The team envisions a scaled-up device could passively produce enough drinking water to meet the daily requirements of a small family. The system could also supply off-grid, coastal communities where seawater is easily accessible.

Zhang’s study co-authors include MIT graduate student Yang Zhong, and Evelyn Wang, the Ford Professor of Engineering, along with Jintong Gao, Jinfang You, Zhanyu Ye, Ruzhu Wang, and Zhenyuan Xu of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.

A powerful convection

The team’s new system improves on their previous design—a similar concept of multiple layers, called stages. Each stage contained an evaporator and a condenser that used heat from the sun to passively separate salt from incoming water.

That design, which the team tested on the roof of an MIT building, efficiently converted the sun’s energy to evaporate water, which was then condensed into drinkable water. But the salt that was left over quickly accumulated as crystals that clogged the system after a few days. In a real-world setting, a user would have to place stages on a frequent basis, which would significantly increase the system’s overall cost.

In a follow-up effort, they devised a solution with a similar layered configuration, this time with an added feature that helped to circulate the incoming water as well as any leftover salt. While this design prevented salt from settling and accumulating on the device, it desalinated water at a relatively low rate.

In the latest iteration, the team believes it has landed on a design that achieves both a high water-production rate, and high salt rejection, meaning that the system can quickly and reliably produce drinking water for an extended period.

The key to their new design is a combination of their two previous concepts: a multistage system of evaporators and condensers, that is also configured to boost the circulation of water—and salt—within each stage.

“We introduce now an even more powerful convection, that is similar to what we typically see in the ocean, at kilometer-long scales,” Xu says.

The small circulations generated in the team’s new system is similar to the “thermohaline” convection in the ocean—a phenomenon that drives the movement of water around the world, based on differences in sea temperature (“thermo”) and salinity (“haline”).

“When seawater is exposed to air, sunlight drives water to evaporate. Once water leaves the surface, salt remains. And the higher the salt concentration, the denser the liquid, and this heavier water wants to flow downward,” Zhang explains. “By mimicking this kilometer-wide phenomena in small box, we can take advantage of this feature to reject salt.”

Tapping out

The heart of the team’s new design is a single stage that resembles a thin box, topped with a dark material that efficiently absorbs the heat of the sun. Inside, the box is separated into a top and bottom section. Water can flow through the top half, where the ceiling is lined with an evaporator layer that uses the sun’s heat to warm up and evaporate any water in direct contact.

The water vapor is then funneled to the bottom half of the box, where a condensing layer air-cools the vapor into salt-free, drinkable liquid. The researchers set the entire box at a tilt within a larger, empty vessel, then attached a tube from the top half of the box down through the bottom of the vessel, and floated the vessel in saltwater.

In this configuration, water can naturally push up through the tube and into the box, where the tilt of the box, combined with the thermal energy from the sun, induces the water to swirl as it flows through. The small eddies help to bring water in contact with the upper evaporating layer while keeping salt circulating, rather than settling and clogging.

The team built several prototypes, with one, three, and 10 stages, and tested their performance in water of varying salinity, including natural seawater and water that was seven times saltier.

From these tests, the researchers calculated that if each stage were scaled up to a square meter, it would produce up to 5 liters of drinking water per hour, and that the system could desalinate water without accumulating salt for several years. Given this extended lifetime, and the fact that the system is entirely passive, requiring no electricity to run, the team estimates that the overall cost of running the system would be cheaper than what it costs to produce tap water in the United States.

“We show that this device is capable of achieving a long lifetime,” Zhong says. “That means that, for the first time, it is possible for drinking water produced by sunlight to be cheaper than tap water. This opens up the possibility for solar desalination to address real-world problems.”

Source Tech Xplore

The Ban on Plastic Water Bottles at LAX

Posted on September 5, 2023 by dishanth

Did you know that over 481 billion plastic bottles are used worldwide every year? Americans purchase, on average, 50 billion water bottles per year. This averages about 13 bottles per month for every person. The US, China and Indonesia are the largest consumers of plastic water bottles. Purchasing plastic water bottles in these countries buying, plastic water bottles are seen as a luxury whereby the water is regarded as “healthier” or has a better taste. Countries in the Global South together represent roughly 60 percent of the market. These countries are almost dependent on plastic water bottles due to the lack of reliable access to safe tap water.

The issues surrounding the overconsumption of plastic water bottles include the fact that the groundwater extracted to help fill the billions of plastic bottles a year poses a potential threat to drinking water resources. Moreover, the industry’s growth helps distract attention and resources from funding the public water infrastructure needed in many countries. Using plastic water bottles harms the planet because most plastic gets thrown into landfills. In fact, only 9 percent of the plastic from these bottles is recycled, which is only getting lower due to China no longer accepting US plastics.

Despite the adverse effects plastic, especially plastic water bottles, have on the planet, there is no sign of these sales slowing down. Experts are saying that plastic water bottle sales are expected to rise by 2030.

To reduce the use of plastic water bottles, at least in the US, the Los Angeles Airport (also commonly known as LAX) is banning the sale of these single-use plastic water bottles. Over 9 million plastic water bottles were sold at LAX alone in 2019, which averages more than 24 000 bottles a day. The LAX plastic water bottle ban went into effect on June 30, 2023.

The LAX plastic water bottle ban includes concessionaires, restaurants, lounges, vending machines and events happening at the airport. Only single-use water bottles made from recyclable aluminium, cartons or glass may be sold at the airport. The airport encourages visitors to bring their own reusable water bottles and use the water bottle refill stations located in the various terminals. The LAX plastic water bottle ban does not include other beverages sold in plastic bottles or bottled water from flight services on aircraft. This is something that might change in the coming years.

This new policy is part of the Los Angeles World Airports (including LAX and Van Nuys Airports) Sustainability Action Plan, which targets a zero-waste future. The plan is to make these airports zero waste by 2045. The LAX plastic water bottle ban is only the second airport in the world to ban the sale of single-use plastic water bottles and follows San Francisco International Airport, which placed its ban in 2019. In 2021, San Francisco extended the ban to include other types of beverages.

The LAX plastic water bottle ban is only part of a bigger push for sustainability. Los Angeles World Airport has a long history of committing to environmental sustainability. In the early 1990s, it introduced waste diversion and recycling programs at its airports and in 2007, it adopted one of the first sustainability plans for any airport in the nation. Reducing waste and eliminating single-use plastics are important goals for the Los Angeles World Airports and the City of Los Angeles. The LA City Green New Deal calls for all city departments to phase out single-use plastic by 2028 and achieved 100 percent waste diversion by 2050.

It’s impressive that no other airports have taken these initiatives yet. But we know that California is a leader in the sustainability movement. Hopefully, the LAX plastic water bottle ban will encourage other airports around the US and even across the globe to take part in this initiative and reduce dependence on plastic.

Source Happy Eco News

San Francisco’s Plans to Recycle Wastewater

Posted on August 10, 2023 by dishanth

Wastewater is used water that has been affected by domestic, industrial, and commercial use. It includes uses like flushing toilets, doing laundry, washing dishes, and basically anything else that puts used water into a drain. While high-income countries treat about 70% of the wastewater they generate on average, only 38% and 28% of wastewater are treated in upper-middle-income and lower-middle-income countries, respectively.

The untreated water is discharged directly into the environment, particularly into the ocean, where it can have significant problems. Ecosystems can be affected by oxygen depletion, biodegradation of organic materials and water-borne pathogens. More so, pharmaceuticals and heavy metals that end up in our wastewater will harm ocean environments.

To address the problem of wastewater, San Francisco is looking at ways to recycle wastewater from commercial buildings, homes and neighbourhoods and use it for toilets and landscaping. The city is planning to equip new commercial and residential buildings with on-site recycling plants that will make water for nonpotable use cheaper than buying potable water from a centralized source.

The unit called the Onsite Water Reuse program can be installed in basements where its collection of pipes will collect water from sinks, showers and laundry. The system will recycle wastewater with membrane filtration, ultraviolet light and chlorine and then be sent back upstairs to be used again for nonpotable uses. According to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which will have over 80 systems installed across the city, the Onsite Water Reuse program will save 1.3 million gallons of potable water daily. They hope that these new buildings will be completely self-sufficient by using the same water over and over, potable and nonpotable, in a closed loop.

This reuse and recycle wastewater system isn’t entirely new in San Francisco. In 2015, the city required more than 100 000 square feet of new buildings to have on-site recycling systems. To date, six blackwater (water from toilets) and 25 greywater systems (water from washing machines) are using the technology to recycle wastewater.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s headquarters have a blackwater system that treats its wastewater in engineered wetlands built into the sidewalks around the building. The water is then used to flush low-flow toilets and urinals. Their blackwater system has reduced the building’s imported potable supply by 40 percent. A water recycling company has even brewed a beer with purified graywater from a 40-storey San Francisco apartment building.

With megadrought and water crises becoming even more prominent in light of climate change, decentralized water systems and the ability to recycle wastewater are becoming more important. The safety of direct reuse of recycled wastewater is still being studied, and US regulations still do not allow it. Still, there is potential for a fully circular system to recycle wastewater to become a reality in the near future. We have already seen centralized recycled water systems being used in California as a solution to water shortages. Highly treated wastewater, normally discharged into the ocean, is treated and injected into nearby groundwater. The water is then pumped up and treated to drinking water standards by local utilities.

Moreover, ability to recycle wastewater will also save on the costs of pumping water over long distances and the costs associated with digging up streets to replace and install pipelines. We have the solutions to reduce water scarcity and recycle the resources we already have; we just have to be able to implement them. Representatives from water-stressed cities around the world are even coming to San Fransisco to study their recycling systems, so it may become a reality across the globe.

Source Happy Eco News

Regrowing Vegetables with Sun and Water

Posted on April 6, 2023 by dishanth

Many root vegetables can be regrown in your kitchen with a glass of water and a sunny ledge.

While composting is a great way to make use of peels, skins, and ends of your old vegetables, there are many things you can do with your scraps before throwing them away. The outer skins of fruit and vegetables are filled with flavour and vitamins and can have many different uses. For instance, you can use them around the house to clean greasy messes or your tea kettle. You can use them to enhance food by creating zests or sugars. You can also throw your vegetable scraps into boiling water and make a broth.

You may have seen that some vegetables have their roots attached, particularly leeks, green onions, and fennel. Instead of scrapping the roots, you can actually regrow the entire vegetable. All you need is a jar of water and a ledge in the sun, and you’ve got yourself a kitchen garden. You can do it all before the official garden season starts.

Green Onions and Leeks

Place at least an inch of the root ends of your green onions in an inch of water. Make sure to change the water every day or two so you don’t end up with slime. You should have a medium-length green onion to trim and eat in about ten days. The roots will eventually get bigger and will need some nutrients to keep growing. At that point, you can transfer them to a small pot of potting soil to re-nourish or start over with a new bunch of green onions. You can do the same thing with leeks, although they might take a bit longer to regrow.

Fennel

Place the bulb in a container, with the base facing down and stem-end-up. Cover the bulb end in water. You can trim and eat the stalks and fronds (the leafy part) as needed. To continue the growth, you will eventually need to replant it in soil.

Garlic

It’s a little tricky to regrow garlic in water, but you can promote the growth of the green sprouts, which can be used in salads, dressings and stir-fries. Place a whole or partial bulb in a glass and add enough water to come partially up to the bulb. The sprouts will grow and regrow a few times in water before needing soil.

Lettuce

Cut off the bottom of the head of lettuce and place it in a small bowl of water. You will see new growth begin from the center of the in as little as three days, and you’ll have a new half-head of lettuce in about two weeks. You can do this with romaine and red and green leaf.

Any fruit or vegetable can be regrown at home with water or placed directly in the soil. It’s an easy and affordable way to grow fresh produce right in our homes. Grab a glass of water and start growing!

Source Happy Eco News

Philippines’ BDO Unibank first blue bond gets US$100 million investment from IFC

Posted on May 2, 2022 by dishanth

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private investment arm of the World Bank Group, is pouring US$100 million into BDO Unibank Inc’s blue bond, which aims to finance projects that will help tackle marine pollution in the Philippines.

The country is considered the third largest global contributor of ocean plastic, with an estimated 0.75 million metric tonnes of mismanaged waste entering the ocean every year, according to a World Bank study published in 2021.

The coastal blue economy is critical to the Philippines but is threatened by pollution, unsustainable fishing, rapid urbanisation, and the impact of climate change such as typhoons that drag tonnes of rubbish into seaside areas.

BDO Unibank Inc’s blue bond, the first of its kind in the country and a first for IFC in the East Asia Pacific region, is slated to raise money for projects such as water conservation, wastewater treatment, plastic recycling, sustainable tourism, fisheries, and sustainable seafood processing, the global development institution said in a statement on Friday.

“A blue bond instrument will be key to the nation’s growth trajectory. By supporting the first blue bond issuance in the country, IFC continues its tradition of supporting the development of capital markets through issuances of thematic bonds and mainstreaming climate finance in the banking sector”, said Jean-Marc Arbogast, IFC country manager for the Philippines.

“Moving forward, a robust blue economy will help create jobs and alleviate poverty while strengthening the marine ecosystem in the Philippines.”

IFC will also help BDO identify projects that can combat water stress with rapid urbanisation, as more than 3 million people in the Philippines rely on unsafe and unsustainable water sources and 7 million lack access to improved sanitation.

…A blue bond instrument will be key to the nation’s growth trajectory…a robust blue economy will help create jobs and alleviate poverty…

Jean-Marc Arbogast, country manager for the Philippines, International Finance Corporation

The bond will be issued under the International Capital Market Association (ICM’s) Green Bond Principle and IFC’s recently launched Blue Finance Guidelines, a blue-specific framework and metrics that monitor the use of proceeds and report on relevant impact.

“Marking our two-decade partnership, IFC’s investment will be key to helping BDO develop a Blue Finance Framework that will allow us to fund projects that support the country’s blue economy while establishing a new asset class in the Philippine debt market,” said Teresita Sy-Coson, chairperson of BDO Unibank, Inc.

Blue financing is emerging in Asia, with the IFC piloting the mechanism in China, India, Indonesia, and Thailand. Last year, multi-lateral lender Asian Development Bank issued its first ever dual-tranche blue bonds denominated in Australian and New Zealand dollars that will finance ocean-related projects in Asia and the Pacific.

The “blue economy”, which includes livelihoods and other economic benefits derived from oceans, is expected to reach US$3 trillion and employ 40 million people by 2030, giving it critical role in pivoting the global economic system towards regenerating ocean health, said the World Bank.

Source Eco Business

This tiny solar-powered factory cleans up dirty water

Posted on April 19, 2022April 18, 2022 by dishanth

The world’s first completely solar-powered beverage micro-factory started its journey in the spring of 2020, when Swedish startup Wayout International waved its container-sized machine goodbye from the port of Norrköping, south of Stockholm.

With shipping options already radically reduced by Covid-19, the micro-factory set out across the Baltic, Atlantic and Mediterranean seas, via the Suez Canal, stopping by Saudi Arabia, India and Sri Lanka, landing at last in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. From there, it went by truck through the developing rural landscape, over the Ngorongoro crater wall at 2,640 metres above sea level, across the great Namiri plains and up to the Mara river. It’s a big change of scene from a noisy industrial site in Sweden to a peaceful eco-tourism camp in northern Serengeti.

It had taken Wayout 18 months to go from idea to complete product. The result is a module that converts sunshine and local groundwater into pristine, potable water – and which can also produce premium craft beer and soft drinks. A single module puts out 150,000 litres of clean, remineralised water per month and lets whoever operates it serve up to eight different types of drinks through the integrated tap station. The micro-famicro-factoryctory is offered for lease and the fully automated beverage production is done via a desktop app letting the local operator – and Wayout, in Stockholm – monitor and control the process remotely. The system in the Serengeti is powered through a 110 kWp solar field with the energy stored in 2,000Ah OPzS batteries.

In the Serengeti, water is abundant, but not fit for drinking. The natural mineral content is extreme, making it corrosive to teeth and internal organs, and the unique ecosystem – including the famous “great migration” of wildebeest – makes the living soil busy with bacterial processes. That is why the micro-factory takes its source water from a local groundwater bore hole and filters it through an advanced integrated treatment system that removes all impurities before remineralising it for optimal taste and quality.

“It started out as a fun project between friends, at a moment when craft beer and micro-brewing was a thing,” says Martin Renck, one of Wayout’s three founders. The first system was developed to be used in the hospitality industry and by major breweries and beverage brands that seek to produce locally and sustainably. As the trio started pitching the concept to prospective clients, they hadn’t realised how urgent the issue of water purification was. “When we listened to the feedback we got – not just in Africa but from all around the warm regions of the planet – it became clear that it was the mineral water that was the really remarkable thing. We realised we not only had a commercial opportunity, but also a greater mission to take on,” Renck says.

Martin Renck, co-founder of Wayout. Originally conceived as a way to easily create craft beer, the technology’s ability to produce clean drinking water from virtually any source has proved to be its greatest and most impactful innovation PHOTOGRAPHY CHRISTOPHER HUNT

Touching down on the red dirt track at the Kogatende Airstrip in Northern Serengeti, the infrastructural challenges of the region become instantly clear. Here, the dynamics of the natural world still rule; scorching days followed by chilly nights, dry seasons followed by torrential rains, wildebeest and zebras followed by big cats and hyenas, with termites, boomslangs, hyraxes, aardvarks and pangolins filling the gaps. Roads and rivers meander with the seasons. Man-made structures morph and merge with biomass. Good quality drinking water may be as far away as a few days by four-wheel drive, and the distribution logistics leave scars in the sensitive biotope. The effects of the Wayout micro-factory in this location have been profound.

In situ, at the safari operator Asilia’s Sayari Camp, this circular system has eliminated single-use plastic bottles by nearly 18,000 units per year, not only for the camp guests but also for the operating staff and the park rangers in the region. Together with the safari camp operators, the rangers are what protects the national park by maintaining fire breaks, educating locals on the economic upsides of a healthy ecosystem, deterring and removing poachers, and protecting wildlife and people from each other when needed. Easy access to eco-friendly safe drinking water lets the rangers focus on their mission and ultimately improve the experience for the close to 150,000 yearly eco-tourists to the region.

Through the localised production of beverages, Sayari Camp further reduces their environmental impact by avoiding unnecessary waste management and routine long-distance trips. In addition to obvious health benefits, the unlimited supply of safe drinking water also frees up time and resources for families, advancing educational and economic prospects that support long-term development. And the effects have exceeded expectations. “In this location, the transition to a circular and eco-friendly economy in and around the Sayari Camp was more or less instant, which really should make us all think: if this can be done in the far-out region of Northern Serengeti, couldn’t it then be done anywhere?” Renck asks.

Renck says that the pandemic has boosted the interest in their innovation. The company is currently busy finalising its second concept: a “water-as-a-service” offer aimed at regions and nations with greater need for desalination and safe drinking water. One such project is slated for roll-out in early 2022 in a large island nation. By producing drinking water through distributed desalination, the cascade effects of the infrastructure system could help replenish the island’s water table, restore local farming and revitalise important parts of the island’s economy.

“One of the things we as humanity learned from this pandemic is that we can no longer rely on global value chains,” Renck says. “A transition to local and sustainable production of food and beverages [could help] humanity greenwash – in the genuine, positive sense of the word – civilisation.”

Source Wired

Sunlight to solve the world’s clean water crisis

Posted on April 19, 2021 by dishanth

Researchers at UniSA have developed a cost-effective technique that could deliver safe drinking water to millions of vulnerable people using cheap, sustainable materials and sunlight.

Less than 3 per cent of the world’s water is fresh, and due to the pressures of climate change, pollution, and shifting population patterns, in many areas this already scarce resource is becoming scarcer.

Currently, 1.42 billion people – including 450 million children – live in areas of high, or extremely high, water vulnerability, and that figure is expected to grow in coming decades.

Researchers at UniSA’s Future Industries Institute have developed a promising new process that could eliminate water stress for millions of people, including those living in many of the planet’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities.

A team led by Associate Professor Haolan Xu has refined a technique to derive freshwater from seawater, brackish water, or contaminated water, through highly efficient solar evaporation, delivering enough daily fresh drinking water for a family of four from just one square metre of source water.

“In recent years, there has been a lot of attention on using solar evaporation to create fresh drinking water, but previous techniques have been too inefficient to be practically useful,” Assoc Prof Xu says.

“We have overcome those inefficiencies, and our technology can now deliver enough fresh water to support many practical needs at a fraction of the cost of existing technologies like reverse osmosis.”

At the heart of the system is a highly efficient photothermal structure that sits on the surface of a water source and converts sunlight to heat, focusing energy precisely on the surface to rapidly evaporate the uppermost portion of the liquid.

While other researchers have explored similar technology, previous efforts have been hampered by energy loss, with heat passing into the source water and dissipating into the air above.

“Previously many of the experimental photothermal evaporators were basically two dimensional; they were just a flat surface, and they could lose 10 to 20 per cent of solar energy to the bulk water and the surrounding environment,” Dr Xu says.

“We have developed a technique that not only prevents any loss of solar energy, but actually draws additional energy from the bulk water and surrounding environment, meaning the system operates at 100 per cent efficiency for the solar input and draws up to another 170 per cent energy from the water and environment.”

In contrast to the two-dimensional structures used by other researchers, Assoc Prof Xu and his team developed a three-dimensional, fin-shaped, heatsink-like evaporator.

Their design shifts surplus heat away from the evaporator’s top surfaces (i.e. solar evaporation surface), distributing heat to the fin surface for water evaporation, thus cooling the top evaporation surface and realising zero energy loss during solar evaporation.

This heatsink technique means all surfaces of the evaporator remain at a lower temperature than the surrounding water and air, so additional energy flows from the higher-energy external environment into the lower-energy evaporator.

“We are the first researchers in the world to extract energy from the bulk water during solar evaporation and use it for evaporation, and this has helped our process become efficient enough to deliver between 10 and 20 litres of fresh water per square metre per day.”

In addition to its efficiency, the practicality of the system is enhanced by the fact it is built entirely from simple, everyday materials that are low cost, sustainable and easily obtainable.

“One of the main aims with our research was to deliver for practical applications, so the materials we used were just sourced from the hardware store or supermarket,” Assoc Prof Xu says.

“The only exception is the photothermal materials, but even there we are using a very simple and cost-effective process, and the real advances we have made are with the system design and energy nexus optimisation, not the materials.”

In addition to being easy to construct and easy to deploy, the system is also very easy to maintain, as the design of the photothermal structure prevents salt and other contaminants building up on the evaporator surface.

Together, the low cost and easy upkeep mean the system developed by Assoc Prof Xu and his team could be deployed in situations where other desalination and purification systems would be financially and operationally unviable.

“For instance, in remote communities with small populations, the infrastructure cost of systems like reverse osmosis is simply too great to ever justify, but our technique could deliver a very low cost alterative that would be easy to set up and basically free to run,” Assoc Prof Xu says.

“Also, because it is so simple and requires virtually no maintenance, there is no technical expertise needed to keep it running and upkeep costs are minimal.

“This technology really has the potential to provide a long-term clean water solution to people and communities who can’t afford other options, and these are the places such solutions are most needed.”

In addition to drinking water applications, Assoc Prof Xu says his team is currently exploring a range of other uses for the technology, including treating wastewater in industrial operations.

“There are a lot of potential ways to adapt the same technology, so we are really at the beginning of a very exciting journey,” he says.

Source Eco Voice

UAE’s 20by2020 Initiative Brings Life-Changing Water Solution to Thousands in Cambodian Villages

Posted on October 29, 2020 by dishanth

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Thousands of people across three Cambodian villages can now live safer, healthier lives following the deployment of new water purifying technology as part of the Zayed Sustainability Prize’s UAE-driven humanitarian initiative, 20by2020.

After the most recent installation of solar powered light systems in vulnerable communities in Egypt and Jordan, the initiative has progressed with five water fountains, benefiting the 4,400 residents of the Chhnok Trou, Kampong Phrah and Ses Salab villages.

Due to the instalment of the water ultra-filtration solution, organised by the 20by2020 initiative, the village communities, along with the Chhnok Trou school and clinic, have access to clean and safe water for the first time. Not only does this gives residents an option for avoiding many of the waterborne diseases and other health issues stemming from dirty water, it will offer new opportunities for better hygiene, an essential requirement given the importance of handwashing in preventing the spread of coronavirus.

Over time it is intended that this access will improve the outlooks for residents through better hydration and the prevention of illness, which has been statistically proven to have significant, positive effects on the overall health and wellbeing of communities alongside individual growth and development.

20by2020’s support has seen yet another community benefit from life-saving technology. In Cambodia, the solution deployed has been developed by Safe Water Cube, a French company that was a Zayed Sustainability Prize finalist in 2019 under the Water Category. The technology deployment in Cambodia makes surface water drinkable (river, pond) by removing viruses and bacteria that cause diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera and hepatitis, from up to 1,000 litres of water per hour with no energy or maintenance required, and no chemicals used.

Commenting on the activation in Cambodia, H.E. Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and Director General of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, said: “This innovative water purification technology will positively impact the health and wellbeing of many people in rural Cambodia. Through the 20by2020 initiative, we are leveraging the sustainable solutions of Zayed Sustainability Prize winners and finalists to successfully impact countless lives around the world.”

H.E Al Jaber added “By streamlining efforts with the 20by2020 partners to achieve a more sustainable world, we can extend the impact of the inspiring humanitarian and international development vision of the UAE’s founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, while reinforcing the country’s role in humanitarian aid and progress towards sustainability.”

Delivering this positive and impactful work across the world is the main objective of 20by2020, a UAE initiative led by the Zayed Sustainability Prize in partnership with Abu Dhabi Global Market, Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, Mubadala Petroleum, Ministry of Tolerance and Coexistence and Masdar.

H.E. Mr. Lim Kean Hor, Minister of Water Resources and Meteorology and Chairman of the Tonle Sap Authority of the Royal Government of Cambodia stated: “We welcome the 20by2020 initiative whose contribution meets one of the strategic objectives of the Tonle Sap Authority to improve access to safe drinking water in the remote areas around the Tonle Sap Great Lake.”

H.E. Mr. Lim Kean Hor added, “On behalf of the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to the Zayed Sustainability Prize, in addition to the 20by2020 partners for providing these innovative solutions.”

Access to safe drinking water is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations adopted by 193 countries. In Cambodia especially, the provision of clean drinking water remains a major challenge; more than 3 million people lack access to safe water and 6 million lack access to improved sanitation. Furthermore, there is growing evidence that inadequate sanitation, water, and hand washing facilities in the country are a barrier to children attending school and performing well, especially girls.

Similarly, Cambodian health care facilities are often reported as having insufficient water, sanitation, and hygiene amenities, with only 50% reported by the National Institute of Public Health as always having sufficient water for their needs. The latest 20by2020 deployment is the first step in providing a new dawn for the villages of Chhnok Trou, Kampong Phrah and Ses Salab.

As part of the initiative’s first phase, a total of six deployments have been rolled out to date, including energy, health, water, and food-related solutions in Cambodia, Egypt, Jordan, Nepal, Tanzania, and Uganda. 20by2020 also plans to deploy additional solutions before the end of the year; with the scheduling dependent on individual country-specific conditions in light of the global pandemic. Upcoming technology deployments include water and energy-related projects in Bangladesh, Madagascar, Costa Rica and Indonesia.

About Zayed Sustainability Prize

Established by the UAE leadership, in 2008, to honour the legacy of the founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Zayed Sustainability Prize is the UAE’s pioneering global award for recognising sustainability and humanitarian solutions around the world.

The Zayed Sustainability Prize acknowledges and rewards global pioneers and innovators who are committed to accelerating impactful sustainable solutions.

Over the past 12 years, the Prize has awarded 86 winners. Collectively, they have directly and indirectly, positively impacted the lives of over 335 million people around the world. The Zayed Sustainability Prize categories are: Health, Food, Energy, Water and Global High Schools.

For more information, please visit www.ZayedSustainabilityPrize.com or go to our social media platforms on, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.

Source: Eco Voice