Holy Guacamole! Mexican Clean Water Solution for Remote Villages!
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have begun working in a small Mexican village deep within the jungles of Yucatan Peninsula. They’re testing a new solar powered water purification system that can supply 1,000 litres of clean water a day.
Villages within these areas have very limited access to water, mainly by biweekly transport of brown water from distant ground wells. The water isn’t purified, so the village residents of up to 450 people, need to boil before consumption.
MIT’s new autonomous purification system contains severalsolar PV panels that will push the well water through the membranes in a process known as reverse osmosis. The filtering system will clean the waterof impurities like salt and other heavy minerals.
Community training will need to take place, so the solar purification system can be maintained once the MIT researchers leave. Periodic changing of filters and adding water purification chemicals is the main focus of the training.
Steven Dubowsky, a professor of mechanical engineering and of aeronautics and astronautics, says “There may be 25 million indigenous people in Mexico alone. This is not a small problem. The potential for a system like this is huge.”
