Freshwater supplies have come under tremendous pressure over recent years due to a variety of reasons, including drought conditions, ground water and aquifers contamination by anthropogenic activities.
According to the World Resources Institute, 1.2 billion people worldwide and 300 million Indians are presently suffering from water stress. Parallel to this Middle East & North Africa countries exercises around 75% of global desalination activities to meet their demand. In current rush to meet the increasing water demand, the water industry is able to offer only sub-optimal solutions:
- Ground-water withdrawal has severely depleted aquifers and is not a sustainable solution
- Water transport over distances generates carbon emissions
- Desalination plants, constructed in some countries, eject highly concentrated brine stream back in the sea which is severely harmful to the marine environment. Also, such plants require a huge upfront investment.
To cope with the lack of potable water, people rely on pumping/storing and purification methods (RO/UV filters). In dry areas, water purification is not viable due to lack of feed-water to purify. Bottled water remains an expensive solution worldwide, ranging from Rs. 4 to 20 per liter ( 0.6 USD to 0.3 USD per liter).
Bottled water requires the use of plastics, which are environmentally unsustainable. For poorer communities, relying on unchecked water sources exposes them to risk of biological and chemical contaminant poisoning and hence increased mortality rate due to water-borne diseases.
There is enough water present in the air in the form of moisture, sufficient to address the water needs of each individual on the planet. Hence, atmospheric water harvesting is a sustainable solution to all the above-mentioned problems. Presently existing Atmospheric Water Generators (AWGs) are power inefficient, especially in hot and dry ambient conditions. Hence, there is a need for a cost and energy efficient technology for harvesting water from the air, as addressed by our innovation. AWG unit developed by VayuJal Technologies are 10 – 30 % power efficient and can be operated off-grid with solar power.
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