Residents on a remote island in Belize will use solar-powered hydropanels to harvest drinking water from the air after coronavirus shutdowns delayed shipments of bottled water from the mainland

  • Locals on Caye Caulker Island are transforming vapor into drinking water
  • The small island off the coast of Belize relies on bottled water from the mainland
  • Water shipments were delayed during the country's COVID-19 closures
  • The residents turned to 23 solar-powered hydropanels for fresh water 
  • Under optimal conditions the panels produce 911 gallons a month 
  • Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19

Residents on a small island off the coast of Belize have begun harvesting fresh drinking water from the air after shipments from the mainland were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The residents of Caye Caulker Island, 20 miles off the coast of Belize City, are using 23 solar-powered hydropanels from Zero Mass Water to convert moisture in the air into potable water.

The hydropanels use a similar set of principles as dehumidifiers to harvest water, drawing in air into a compartment with fans, where it's heated by the solar panels to convert the water molecules into steam. 

Residents on Caye Caulker Island off the coast of Belize are relying on 23 solar-powered hydropanels for drinking water, which transform water molecules in the air into liquid water

Residents on Caye Caulker Island off the coast of Belize are relying on 23 solar-powered hydropanels for drinking water, which transform water molecules in the air into liquid water

The steam is passed through a special hygroscopic material that channels it into a collection reservoir where it's cooled into liquid water, according to a report in Newsweek

The panels were initially installed on the roof of the local Roman Catholic School and Community Center in later 2019 as part of the Caribbean Climate Smart Island Program, and funded in part by the Inter-American Developmeent Bank.

According to Zero Mass, they can produce around around 911 gallons a month under optimal conditions, or the equivalent of about 30 gallons a day.  

Caye Caulker is just five miles long and one mile across, and was formed by a mix of sand and limestone coral that does a relatively poor job of filtering salt from water that's drawn into the ground from the sea.

As a result, locals relied mostly on large shipments of bottled water that came by cargo ship from the mainland. 

The hydropanels, developed by Zero Mass Water, cost between $5,500 and $6,500 for a two-panel unit, and the 23 units installed on Caye Caulker will produce an estimated 911 gallons of water a month

The hydropanels, developed by Zero Mass Water, cost between $5,500 and $6,500 for a two-panel unit, and the 23 units installed on Caye Caulker will produce an estimated 911 gallons of water a month

Those shipments were delayed in early April after the government closed its borders and declared a state of emergency as COVID-19 began to spread across the country.

Some have criticized technologies like Zero Mass Water's as being too costly for the relatively small amount of water they generate compared to what's available through public utilities in less susceptible regions of the world.

The average cost of 1,000 gallons of water through an American utility company is around $1,50, far less than the cost of producing the same amount with an array of $5,500 panels. 

Caye Caulker is five miles long and one mile wide, and has few natural sources of fresh water in part because the ground is composed of sand and limestone coral

Caye Caulker is five miles long and one mile wide, and has few natural sources of fresh water in part because the ground is composed of sand and limestone coral 

The average American, for instance, consumes around 300 gallons of water every day between drinking, bathing, doing dishes, and using the toilet, among other uses. 

That's about one-third the ideal monthly output from the 23 hydropanels on Caye Caulker.

Yet, the technology seems to have a clear use as fallback source of water in emergencies, rather than a primary source to replace public utilities.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic caused shipping delays, Caye Caulker relied on large shipments of bottled water from Belize to keep residents hydrated

Before the COVID-19 pandemic caused shipping delays, Caye Caulker relied on large shipments of bottled water from Belize to keep residents hydrated

Zero Water says they've installed hydropanels in over 40 countries around the world that experience some form of water vulnerability.

According to a recent UN report, close to half of the world's population will live in regions with high water stress by 2030.

'Access to clean water is a human rights issue, the better access people have to clean water, the more happy, fair and productive their lives can be,' Zero Mass Water's Cody Friesen told Newsweek.

'The biggest concern over the coming decade is that climate change will compound the challenges we see today, with extreme weather, pollution and increased global conflict over clean water sources.'

WHERE ARE FUTURE 'WATER WARS' MOST LIKE TO ARISE?

A team of scientists from the European Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC) used a novel machine learning method to identify 'pre-conditions and factors' that might lead to depleting water resources in certain areas, particularly those that contain water sources shared by bordering nations.

Researchers said the areas most likely to be hit by 'hydro-political' issues are those with already stressed water basins. 

This includes the Nile, Ganges-Brahmaputra, Indus, Tigris-Euphrates and Colorado rivers.

They believe water-related conflict or cooperation is likely to develop in the next 50 to 100 years as a result of climate change and population growth.

Researchers used machine learning to identify 'pre-conditions and factors' that might lead to depleting water resources, particularly areas that contain water shared by bordering nations

Researchers used machine learning to identify 'pre-conditions and factors' that might lead to depleting water resources, particularly areas that contain water shared by bordering nations

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