Solar Distillers: Turning Seawater into Drinking Water
We have another project update for you all! A key aspect of sustainability, especially in developing areas, is to have a reliable source of clean and safe drinking water. We have been working to bring to life a solution to this issue for coastal communities like Lobitos: solar distillers!
The northern coast of Peru is very dry and arid, and freshwater is scarce in the entire region. This is a significant issue here in Lobitos, where we receive water in mains that come from Talara, the nearest city. Water is distributed to different neighborhoods in Lobitos on a weekly schedule, but often there is not enough water to distribute and certain areas will sometimes go weeks without a delivery. Even the water that is delivered is not safe to drink, and must be filtered or boiled to eliminate dangerous contaminants and bacteria. Many people and businesses just buy bottled water for drinking, leading to plastic waste. This is one of the most pressing issues in Lobitos, and @EcoSwell has been working hard on a solution. Our solar distiller project has many stages, and the second stage is on its way to completion!
A solar distiller is a structure that can turn seawater into fresh drinking water using heat created by sunlight. The process involved is similar to the global water cycle, but on a much smaller scale. Seawater is first filtered to remove any sizeable organisms and then poured into the black basin of the distiller. A glass window is sealed over the basin at an angle, and as the sun passes through the window and hits the basin, it heats the water. Water then evaporates, leaving behind the salts, minerals, and bacteria in the original seawater. The water vapor rises and condenses on the cooler window, where it rolls down the slope of the window and drips into a water catch. The water catch is also angled, so the distilled water runs down the water catch and into an outlet pipe, where the water is filtered one last time to remove any bacteria that may have survived the distillation, and then flows into the outlet tank ready to drink!
Last year, one of our volunteers built a small scale water distiller that worked great! It was able to distill roughly four liters of very pure water every day, and we invited community members to come taste the water and see the distiller. Everyone enjoyed the taste of the water and the event was a success, so we set our sights higher. Over the past year a solar distiller four times larger has been designed and is close to being built. Jessa Clark, one of our interns, is aiming to finish building this bigger pilot model within the next week. This distiller should be able to produce about twenty liters of drinking water every day just using sunlight, but we want to increase its production as much as possible.
@EcoSwell installed two solar panels at the local Fisherman’s Guild a couple years ago, and much of the electricity produced during the day is not being used. We plan to move the distiller to the Guild once it’s up and running, and then use that extra electricity to power a couple fans and a heater to increase the efficiency of the distiller, as well as potentially add a water pump to make the process more smooth. Once this pilot unit has been tested and improved as much as possible, we hope to help the locals build more models to put around the community, so Lobitos has a reliable and sustainable source of clean drinking water.
We are excited to see how this project continues to develop as we build and test the pilot solar distiller and are hopeful that Lobitos will soon have a simple and effective way to generate clean drinking water. Keep an eye out for updates on how our solar distiller pilot performs and future plans for this project!
@EcoSwell is a for-impact, sustainable development organization based in Lobitos, Peru. Since 2014, we have been working everyday to help coastal communities thrive in unison with nature. All the revenue generated from our SteemIt posts go directly back into our projects. If you would like to learn more, please visit our Facebook, website, and follow us on SteemIt!
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