Globally we have awakening to the serious problems facing the world’s dwindling fresh water supplies. Irena Salina’s recent award winning film “Flow” addresses some eye-opening issues regarding our most precious resource. From the highly questionable quality of the water we get from our taps, to the sometimes almost unregulated content of bottled water, the film seriously challenges our predispositions toward government safety and oversight of our water supplies.
But an even more frightening truth is that the world is facing perhaps its biggest challenge to mankind in the 21st century. The tremendous amount of fresh water used for agriculture, industry, and the day-to-day lives of 6.5 billion people has created drinking water shortages in many places and the problem is getting worse everyday in more areas worldwide. Our available fresh water supplies are being polluted and contaminated at an alarming rate as mankind’s activities continue to dump chemicals, pesticides, metals, sewage, pharmaceutical drugs, and a host of other pollutants and filth into our lakes, rivers, streams, and oceans. Over eighty percent of hospital beds filled worldwide is a result of a water-borne illness, poor hygiene, or poor sanitation as a direct consequence of little or no access to safe drinking water.
Climatic changes and altered global weather patterns is also playing a major role in disrupting our supply of fresh water. The predictions indicate that it will have a serious impact on vegetation, agriculture, forestry, and ecosystems worldwide causing further problems and disruptions for all mankind in the next decade.
Almost everyday now, the press speaks to some form of water related issue giving indication after indication of the growing problems regarding the world’s water supplies. However, in spite of repeated warnings and increased public awareness many people continually abuse, take for granted, and pollute our most valuable and precious resource while paying much more attention to the price of a barrel of oil and the scores of sporting events. Fortune magazine says, “water will be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century.”
Have you ever stopped to consider how precious water really is? How significant it is to our overall health? Do you realize that water is the essence of life? And what would happen to you if suddenly you no longer had access to it? Are you aware that lean muscle tissue contains about 75% water. Blood contains 95% water, body fat contains 14% water, and bone has 22% water. Normally a baby is made up of approximately 75% water, an adult male about 60%, and an adult female about 55% water. Water is literally the one ingredient that all living organisms on our planet must have to sustain us. We simply cannot have life as we know it without water.
And as the issues and problems arising from shortages and contamination of our ground water supplies goes on there is one very important, almost overlooked, and completely unharvested source of water on our planet. Air! There is moisture in our air referred to as the dew point. Many people are also surprised to learn that at any given time there is about 3.4 quadrillion gallons (3,100 cubic miles) of water in our atmosphere with billions and billions of gallons being recycled daily via the hydrologic cycle.
What does this mean for mankind? Well it gives us an almost completely untouched, unused, unharvested, replenshible source of fresh drinking water daily. The technology is here, and has been around for a while but public awareness of it is very low. The bottled water companies certainly don’t want you to know about it. Your knowledge of this technology might cut into the billions they make by trying to convince you that bottled water is healthier than tap water.
Atmospheric water generators pull air into the unit and then process moisture from the air to create water. The A.W.G. circulates refrigerant (much a like a dehumidifier) through coils to create a temperature in the coils or chiller array that is lower than the humidity (dew point) of the intake air. This causes condensation of water that is then channeled into a holding tank. From this point extensive measures are used such as UV light, ozone, and various filtration methods to create very fresh, very clean drinking water. The system doesn’t require a water source since it acts like a literal “water factory” that makes water from air!
Some atmospheric water generators are also packaged with air-conditioning units which create a complete environmental system acting as an air-purification, air dehumidification, air-conditioning, and water generating system all rolled up into one. Combine this technology with solar power and you have a home, building, etc, that is completely self-sufficient without any need whatsoever for dependancy on municipal, or other outside sources of water or power.
But there are also tremendous applications and benefits to using atmospheric water generators as a way to alleviate water shortages in areas that desperately need the technology. As the world pushes ever further toward ways to overcome the tremendous water shortage, water pollution, and water contamination problems, the atmsopheric water generator (A.W.G.) emerges as a vialble sustainable source of replenishing our supplies.