#209 - SoJo & Tampa shining, Uisce Éireann, Electrodialysis, BDD & Glowing Orbs
Water Water Everywhere...
Hey Readers,
This week we reverted to our old format of innovations followed by news, based on the feedback from the vocal few - thank you for your thoughtful feedback and look forward to having more of you engage in the future.
Innovations Roundup
Glowing orbs as clean water sensors
Sometimes we come across a solution that blows us away. This is one of them - imagine a visible, instantly understandable signal about the quality of the water around you. Then ask, can that signal and device be powered by nature itself? Also can it be beautiful and eye-catching, without being alarming in any way? Well let’s introduce you to the POND (Power Of Nature-based Design) network. By setting up a floating microbial fuel cell, these innovators solved the power problem, but using electricity generated when microbes break down organic compounds. This electricity is then used in multiple ways: from data collection to powering the light show.
But how do we know what’s going on? - If the water is clean—aka happy—an underwater LED light mounted inside the dome will light up in a pulsing blue light. If the water is polluted—aka angry—it will turn red and the light will look “slow and tired.” The responsive objects can therefore translate the water quality in real-time and in ways that are easily understood by joe-public than the typical assortment of probes, nets, gauges, and various instruments that experts use behind the scenes. What’s more, by virtue of their concave shape and the underwater LEDs, the domes act as magnifying glasses that shine a spotlight on any creature swimming inside them.
Anyone who’s dealt with leaky pipes and tropical monsoons will tell you that fungal growth is something that comes side-by-side with damp environments, so unsurprisingly fungal contamination is commonly found in water supply systems, with potential risks to drinking water safety. To deal with this persistent problem, researchers in China have gone to one of the hardest substances on earth - diamonds! - More specifically they built an electrolysis-based purification system, with a boron-doped diamond (BDD) as the anode material.
The device was found to effectively inactivate Aspergillus terrestris spores under different processing current intensities, water hardness, and alkalinity conditions. Moreover, in practical tap water applications, it also exhibited effective inactivation of Aspergillus terrestris spores and good efficiency in removing antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs). Now if we could just have deBeers loan us a few…
Flexible batch electrodialysis to Solar powered desalination
Researchers from King’s College London (KCL), in collaboration with MIT and the Helmholtz Institute for Renewable Energy Systems, have developed a new solar-powered system to produce drinking water from saltwater. Building on existing processes that convert saline groundwater to freshwater, the researchers focussed on solving for the fact that solar power is not a continuous source of power (‘cos the sun…duh). Their solution uses a low-cost ‘battery-like’ desalination technology removes the reliance on battery technology for using intermittent solar energy in off-grid applications.
This new system works by separating the salt using a set of specialised membranes which channel salt ions into a stream of brine, leaving the water fresh and drinkable. By flexibly adjusting the voltage and the rate at which salt water flowed through the system, the researchers developed a system that adjusts to variable sunshine while not compromising on the amount of fresh drinking water produced. The researchers said that the process is over 20% cheaper than traditional methods and could signal a step change in providing clean water in developing countries and beyond. Their next step is to create a start-up to commercialise and fund the technology. More power to them!
News Roundup
The Irish water authorities informed over 300,000 people this week that they had Trihalomethanes (THMs) in the water. THMs are chemical compounds created when chlorine used to disinfect supplies at treatment plants reacts with vegetation and bacteria in the water, which some studies suggest are linked to various cancers and reproductive problems.
An Aussie winemaker have been criminally convicted and ordered to pay more than $500,000 in fines for illegally stealing water to grow wine grapes.
One of the biggest mass producers of white wine in Australia, was found to have purposely stolen about 365 megalitres of water – about 146 Olympic swimming pools – between 2016 and 2019 by illegally tapping into the Western Murray Irrigation pipeline.
It’s not all bad news, Tampa in Florida is leaning into their reuse plans, with becoming the first in the country to develop a reclaimed water system to for residents to irrigate. Recycled water — used for public access — replaced the use of drinking water by nearly 200 million gallons per day in 2022. It’s the equivalent of about 300 Olympic sized swimming pools.
The city of South Jordan in Utah, is not too far behind with an advanced water purification facility to reuse their wastewater. Go Pure Sojo!
That is it for this Friday, until next week,
Peace!