Florian Bollen. Sustainable Water Supply for a Developing World.
Bollen reminds us that many aquifers – essential for the lives of many people around the world – are becoming increasing saline as a result of increasing evaporation, poor irrigation practices and saline intrusion in coastal locations.
Desalination offers an opportunity to desalt saline groundwater in these environments... I have my reservations in closed basins. Is this sticky-plaster that accentuates an underlying challenge of over-use? I accept that desalination can have an important role to play in the treatment of contaminated return flows to closed basins/aquifers.
Bollen describes a vacumn multi-effect membrane distillation product to serve local water needs. It’s described as a small modular based system that is highly robust, requires little pre-treatment (and so minimises the need to purchase pre-treatment chemicals) and can be turned on and off as the power is available. Bollen notes that it is made largely from plastics and can be built cheaply and it’s recyclable.
Bollen illustrates the application of these units in the developing world and the work of the recently established Aquiva Foundation (www.aquiva-foundation.com). Micro-finance initiatives will be considered to create opportunities for local entrepreneurs to create a business from the sale of water. Bollen notes that water should be charged but the costs are likely to be much less than what domestic users may presently pay for water – for example bottled water in Indonesia is cited to cost $25 per m3, and there is no guarantee for the safety of this water.
No comments:
Post a Comment