Water from thin air

The winner of the James Dyson Award was announced on 8 November 2011. From James Dyson Award website

The James Dyson Award is open to product design, industrial design and engineering university level students (or graduates within 4 years of graduation) who have studied in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, UK and USA.

The award is £10,000 for the student or student team (up to four members) winner, £10,000 for their university department and the James Dyson Award trophy and Certificate.

This year, the award was won by Edward Linacre, a Swinburne University of Technology graduate, for his Airdrop invention, in which

Moisture is harvested out of the air to irrigate crops by an efficient system that produces large amounts of condensation. A turbine intake drives air underground through a network of piping that rapidly cools the air to the temperature of the soil where it reaches 100% humidity and produces water. The water is then stored in an underground tank and pumped through to the roots of crops via sub surface drip irrigation hosing.

Read more.

See also


In his own words


Amazing ingenuity from Australia - an innovative and practical solution to a major problem that is also cheap to implement. Congratulations to Mr Linacre.

Free sparkling water. In Paris.

I've written a number of times about bottled water and the ethical question about the cost to the environment.

On Tuesday, a drinking fountain that dispenses chilled and room temperature tap water either still or sparkling/fizzy was opened at a park in Paris. From AFP, excerpt

PARIS — "La Pétillante", première fontaine publique distribuant de l'eau gazeuse en France, a été inaugurée mardi dans le jardin de Reuilly (XIIe arrondissement) à Paris, avec une dégustation offerte à 200 écoliers, a-t-on appris auprès de la régie municipale Eau de Paris.

Ressemblant à un kiosque, cette fontaine publique distribue de l'eau tempérée, de l'eau fraîche, mais surtout, pour la première fois, de l'eau pétillante.

Read more.

The water comes directly through Parisian water pipes. This is the first facility to chill the water and add carbon dioxide to render it sparkling. It is expected to decrease the use of bottled water. Hopefully, there are plans to add kiosks offering chilled sparkling water to other locations and not just in parks.


photo by Philippe Wojazer/Reuters (via PicApp)

See also ITN News below (and BBC)


I think a fountain offering chilled sparkling champagne would be even more popular.

Water, water everywhere and fit to drink from tap

I have previously written about bottled water. In developed countries, where water is safe to drink straight from the tap, there is no need to spend money unnecessarily on bottled water.

Here is a great video about bottled water from The Story of Stuff.



Extending the logic, soft drink (soda) is also wasteful consumption. It provides absolutely no nutritional value, being full of sugar and artificial chemicals.

Bundy on tap

I've previously written about the ethics of bottled water. The small New South Wales highland town of Bundanoon last night voted to ban bottled water. Reported in the local newspaper Southern Highland News (9 July 2009)

Bundanoon bans bottled water

ROBYN MURRAY

9/07/2009 5:39:00 PM

BUNDANOON'S "Bundy on Tap" campaign has spurred Premier Nathan Rees into action to reduce the use of commercially bottled water across the state.

As news of Bundanoon's move to become Australia's first bottled water free town flashed around the world on Wednesday, Mr Rees announced that he would ban all bottled water from government departments and agencies and seek "urgent advice" on ways to persuade consumers to drink less bottled water.

At a public meeting on Wednesday night, more than 350 people endorsed Bundanoon businesses' decision to remove bottled still water from their shelves from September.

Businesses will instead sell a reusable "Bundy on Tap" bottle that can be filled with chilled, filtered water from shops or bubblers in the main street.

Culligan Water has donated three $6000 water filters and bubblers to kick off the "Bundy On Tap" campaign.

One will go to the Bundanoon Public School to encourage children to drink water instead of sugary drinks.

Bundanoon Community Association will seek Wingecarribee Council's help to plumb the other two into the main street.

Planet Ark co-founder John Dee, who led the push to have Coles Bay in Tasmania declared Australia's first plastic bag free town, said Mr Rees' announcement showed the power of the community to inspire real change.

"It won't just be good for Bundanoon, it will provide a role model for everyone to follow."

Bundanoon Newagent Peter Stewart said businesses would lose revenue as a result of getting rid of bottled water.

"But there are more positive things than the money that we'll lose," he said.

Mr Stewart said the publicity generated by the "Bundy on Tap" campaign would attract more visitors to the town.

He urged Bundanoon residents to support the businesses taking part by shopping locally wherever possible.

"If there is a community that is going to go bottled water free, then it's got to be Bundanoon," he said.

"Bundy On Tap" co-ordinator Huw Kingston said Norlex Holding's plans to bottle and sell Bundanoon groundwater was a catalyst for the program.

But the move to declare Bundanoon a bottled water free town was driven by concern over the environmental cost of pumping, bottling, transporting bottled water and disposing of plastic bottles, rather than a protest against Norlex, he said.

"If we were saying we were against water extraction, the logical step is to say no to the end product," he said.

"We have a magnificent community in Bundanoon in all sorts of ways and this campaign has been supported all the way through."

Only two people at the meeting voted against the "Bundy on Tap" campaign: One was a resident concerned about that banning bottled water would force children to turn to sugary drinks, the other was Australian Bottled Water Institute chief executive Geoff Parker.

Mr Parker commended the community on coming together on an "emotive issue" but warned that a ban on bottled water could harm tourism.

"If you ban bottled water in Bundanoon, you are taking away choice and that is what the Premier has done without consultation with the community," he said.

"Have you considered tourists who choose to come here, only to line up at bubblers?"

But Mr Dee said the Coles Bay has shown that the ban could have a positive effect on the community.

"Why is the [bottled water] industry giving the Bundanoon community no choice regarding the bottled water plant here?" Mr Dee said in response to Mr Parker.

"Why are we paying for [bottled] water when filtered water is just as good if not better?"

Mr Dee said the Bundanoon meeting's response sent a strong message to the bottled water industry.

"At the end of the day, when a community is as unified as this, you can take on any company," he said.

* Wingecarribee Council has approved Norlex Holdings application to build shops and a light industrial warehouse at Anzac Parade Bundanoon, despite residents' fears that the warehouse will be used to bottle water pumped from Governor's Road.

Amazing decision. As for the New South Wales government banning bottled water, it would be difficult to justify using government funds (from tax payers) to purchase bottled water when it is available from a tap at no additional cost.

It's only rain... water

I wrote about bottled water on 17 April 2007 and how buying bottled water is very environmentally unsound and followed up with another post on 16 September 2007.

I've just discovered that 'Tasmanian rain' is being bottled, packaged and being sold by a company called Tasmanian Rain.

That's right, 12 bottles of 750 ml each for US$59. May as well pay a bit more and buy wine instead!



Hmmm... Most drinking water in Australia (of which Tasmania is just one state) is rain water, collected in catchment dams and then treated. The northwest of Tasmania where 'Tasmanian rain' is supposed to originate, is supplied their water by Cradle Coast Water.

Nevertheless, Tasmanians who are not connected to the reticulated water supply or who prefer rainwater can source their drinking water from 'Tasmanian rain'.

I like this advice from the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services

Rainwater Tanks

Rainwater from your roof can be a valuable resource particularly in areas where reticulated water is not available. To help ensure good quality water, it is important to correctly install and maintain the rainwater tank and catchment area.

What can go wrong?

Water collected from roofs may be tainted by substances washed off by the rain and may even be unhealthy to drink. These may be chemicals such as components of paint or wood fire deposits or they may be micro-organisms from bird and animal droppings. Contamination can also be caused by decaying leaves and dead animals which have fallen into the tank. In addition, tanks can act as breeding sites for mosquitoes which in some circumstances may be carriers of viral diseases.

Measures to Safeguard Tank Water Quality:

• Install screens on all tank inlets. Install first flush bypass devices which collect roof debris. These are available from tank suppliers.

• Roof gutters and screens should be regularly checked and kept clean.

• Cut back overhanging vegetation to prevent falling leaves, bird droppings and possum faeces from collecting on roof and in gutters. Bird and animal repelling devices could be considered.

• Keep wood heaters in good repair. Remove 'Chinese hat' type chimney flue cowls.

• Keep roof in good repair and check with suppliers of materials before using them on a roof used for collecting drinking water.

• To be assured of microbiologically safe drinking water, disinfect the tank with the appropriate amount of chlorine. If gross contamination occurs, such as finding a dead animal in the tank, empty and refill. In addition, in these cases the tank may need a higher dose of chlorine - seek advice. Until the tank is treated boil all water for drinking and food preparation.

Aside from the environmental cost of manufacturing glass bottles, transport etc, water is a scarce resource in Australia. Water from Australia should not be bottled to be sent offshore. Most of the Australian population are on water restrictions and many gardens have died. It's despicable that a private company is allowed to remove some of our water for huge profits. End of rant.

thirsty...

I wrote about bottled water on 17 April 2007 and how buying bottled water is very environmentally unsound.

New from Evian - 'the most important body of water is your own', enough to make you thirsty for bottled Evian water.









What I actually want is this cool looking water bottle.


Now for an interesting article from Fast Company magazine of July 2007 called 'Message in a Bottle '.

Worldwide, 1 billion people have no reliable source of drinking water; 3,000 children a day die from diseases caught from tainted water.

We pitch into landfills 38 billion water bottles a year -- in excess of $1 billion worth of plastic.

24% of the bottled water we buy is tap water repackaged by Coke and Pepsi.

I don't actually like the taste of Evian.

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I didn't do anything today either. What a 'do nothing' weekend. Sometimes they are the best. In the morning, I did visit Tim and Toni at the house around the corner, which they bought a few months ago. Even their adopted daughter Phrim let me carry her. Aside from that, nothing.

water water everywhere

There was an interesting article in The Age (Epicure supplement) about bottled water.

"There is a difference in both taste and texture between the waters," insists Magnus Cormack McManamey, sommelier at Bourke Street's Bottega restaurant. McManamey recently introduced a water list at Bottega, which contains 11 different waters. It includes spring and mineral waters sourced underground and a rain water from Cape Grim in Tasmania - 750ml of the latter will set you back $12.

"Rain water has always been my favourite," says McManamey. "But I do enjoy informing people about the subtle differences between the different waters on our list."

So subtle that for most of us, the choice between bottled waters comes down to a far more insidious influence - marketing. Since most of us can turn on the tap and get good quality water that is safe to drink very cheaply, getting people to fork out those $12 means convincing them they're buying something more.

And

It's kind of funny, really. But there's a serious side. Apart from the fact that high-priced boutique waters provide a classic example of the privatisation of a natural resource by stealth, the boom in bottled water comes at an environmental cost. It's heavy for a start, so moving big quantities long distances just pumps out those greenhouse gases. There's also the issue of all those plastic bottles: California's Container Recycling Institute recently found that about 90 per cent of PET bottles end up as landfill.

Maybe some of us should consider filling up used bottles at the tap. And when you drink this fine tipple, swill it around your mouth, savour the delicate flavour and you'll find it tastes like water.

Water is water. In Australia, there is no advantage in drinking fancy bottled water. Many people fall for the marketing hype. Australian tap water is perfectly fine to drink.

Better to re-use a bottle and fill it with water from the tap.

Now there are millions of empty plastic bottles that end up in landfill (but hopefully consumers are wise enough to recycle them).

If I did have to buy water, it would be Fiji Water or Valvert. Just something about the taste...





(not to scale)

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Work was busy today.