New Technology: ‘Wayout’ Provides Clean Water To Remote Areas
Clean Water Can be supplied to remote areas without electricity connection with this small scale water treatment plant.
New Technology: ‘Wayout’ Provides Clean Water To Remote Areas
A line in the poem ‘The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner’ written by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge is, “Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.” . This line of the poem reminds us that lack of water does not mean absence of water. Rather, even if there is water around, not all water may be suitable for drinking.
That is, one of the misconceptions that we have about water crisis is that there is a lack of water if there is no water. But in many cases that is not the case.
Water is scarce, many regions of the world have abundant sources of groundwater. But there is no reliable way to purify the water there and make it suitable for drinking.
Therefore, several methods of water purification have been invented in the last few years to deal with the drinking water crisis. Among these, a notable initiative is a Swedish startup company named ‘Wayout’. The company is working on a new technology to purify water in small-scale treatment plants.
Wayout was initially set up to meet the needs of local distilleries on a small scale. The company then started working on plastic pollution and water scarcity issues using their technology. The size of the water treatment plant they invented is very small. Any type of water can be purified through this treatment plant in the size of a shipping container. A refinery produces up to 8,000 liters of fresh water per day, enough for 2,000 people.
All kinds of salts and pollutants are removed from the polluted water in this treatment plant. And finally the purified water is mixed with minerals and other ingredients in the right amount.
This small-scale refinery in Wayout can meet its electricity needs using solar energy. As a result, there is no need to connect electricity from the grid.
Besides, it is possible to set up this refinery locally with environmentally friendly materials. As a result, costs and hassles are reduced during construction.
After setting up a treatment plant in an area, clean water is regularly produced from there. As a result, the consumption of water bought in plastic bottles by the local residents is also reduced. Besides, if there is such a treatment plant in an area, there is no need to transport water to meet the needs of the locals. In this way, environmental pollution is reduced.
In this small-scale refinery, technology like ‘Internet of Things’ is used, through which the amount of pure water being produced can be monitored at all times, and at the same time, all types of information about the refinery are also stored.
This smart water purifier has a 10 liter capacity tank made of stainless steel. These containers with digital chips are called ‘smart kegs’. With the help of this chip, the purity of the water is constantly measured. And each time the amount of water being supplied, that information is also collected and stored.
This information is useful to the people in charge of operation to get a clear idea about the utilization and maintenance of the refinery. As a result, it becomes easier to deliver clean water to the people around the refinery.
‘Wayout’ is operated on a ‘leasing’ basis. Here no money is taken from customers as initial investment. Water is sold by the liter and the price of water is fixed keeping in mind the financial condition of the customers.
Currently ‘Wayout’ is targeting urban householders and institutions like hospitals as their core customers. But people in remote areas, who lack access to clean water, can benefit the most from their technology.
However, the organization can play a big role in protecting the environment by serving the people of the city. For example, the amount of fuel usually used in transportation to deliver food and water to homes or hotels will be saved by using this technology. As a result, less carbon will be released into the environment, which will also cause less damage.
Besides, the services of Wayout can play a big role in matters like soil pollution and waste management. For example, let’s take the case of plastic bottles. After use, bottles are best recycled somewhere near a water treatment plant. But that is not possible in most cases. As a result, those bottles are usually thrown away because of the cost and hassle. This increases the level of plastic pollution in the environment. However, if there is such a water treatment plant in an area, the use of plastic bottles will decrease a lot.
Currently, the technology of “Wayout” is being used in a safari park called “Syari Camp” located in Tanzania in the eastern part of Africa. Although the Serengeti region where the safari park is located has ample groundwater, there is no way to purify the water in this remote area.
‘Wayout’ has been operating in this park since 2020. And because of them, the use of an average of 18,000 plastic bottles has decreased every year. Besides, the people of this region are also getting clean water easily.
Wayout claims that due to their services, those in charge of park rangers are saving valuable time. Where earlier they used to spend a lot of time to collect water, now they can devote more time to their work.
‘Wayout’ is mainly using technology to produce clean water by building small scale treatment plants. And if this technology improves, small refineries can be built at the local level in the future and people will not be needed to manage those refineries. Small water treatment plants will be managed with the help of artificial intelligence in such a way that the electricity and other resources required for water treatment will be used much less.
Apart from this technology of ‘wayout’ there are many other methods of water treatment, which are more suitable for use in remote areas isolated from civil facilities. Many methods, such as nanomembrane filters, solar-powered condensers, and solar water disinfection, require no electricity at all.
