permaculture

[Alan Enzo <ecoenzo@gmail.com>]

Hello Permaculture Friends and Colleagues!

I've been thinking hard about the best designs for Off Grid Water Systems
for rural farm and homestead designs and also urban home designs.

Given that most of the world is being covered with Chemtrails (which makes
purifying roof water difficult), and that many groundwater sources are
highly-compromised because of fracking and industrial/agriculture
chemicals, and that most city-provided water sources contain fluoride,
chlorine, and recycled home waste water (with countless pharmaceuticals and
other persistent chemicals still intact), I'm looking for the best simple
and inexpensive water harvesting systems and components to recommend to
clients and students.  Systems that anyone can use without having to resort
to buying expensive filters and reverse osmosis machines just to have safe,
healthy water!

Currently I recommend simple sand and activated charcoal filters (even
better if you can grow your own bamboo and make your own charcoal
on-site!), and I always suggest avoiding harvesting water from roofs with
ashphalt shingles (if you need to - be sure to filter very well!).

Even with these systems, you need to test the water regularly, and you
really need to know what you are doing in order to be sure that you are
effectively filtering-out all or most of the contaminants in your
particular water source.

I like the off-grid water systems currently used in Earthship design, but
do not know if it is possible to build these as designed in some locations
(i.e., Urban areas).

If there are designs out there for simple, easy to construct systems for
harvesting and purifying water without expensive machines or proprietary
components (that you must buy from a specific company), please let me know.

Here is an article that got me thinking about finding the best
non-proprietary, DIY options for doing the same thing:

Off Grid Water System - Zero Mass Water

http://www.naturalblaze.com/2016/10/these-new-solar-
panels-use-sunlight-to-create-clean-drinking-water-from-the-air.html


http://www.zeromasswater.com/

Thank you in advance for reading and replying with your design advice and
suggestions!

Permaculturally Yours,

Alan Enzo

-- 
Alan Enzo, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Permaculture Education Center
Nashville Permaculture Guild
PermacultureEducation.com
These New Solar Panels Use Sunlight to Create Clean Drinking Water from the
Air

[image: zero-mass-water]
<http://www.naturalblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/zero-mass-water.jpg>By
Christina Sarich <http://undergroundreporter.org/author/christinas/>

*Jordan —* You’ve already heard of solar panels that can sustainably
provide energy, but what about an ultra-high tech solar panel that can
provide doubly-pure, twice distilled water for a family of four, out of
thin air?

A new start up company called Zero Mass Water
<http://www.zeromasswater.com/> that won’t rely on outdated municipal water
with decaying pipes full of lead to deliver water to the ‘middle billion’
and under-served people lacking clean drinking water in the world. It will
create it with solar panels and a technology that capitalizes on moisture
in the air.

The company’s tag line is ‘drinking water democratized,’ and it certainly
seems to stand for the exact opposite world view of, say, Nestle
<http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/24/nestle-chairman-time-to-turn-off-the-water-taps.html>,
which has been stealing water
<http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/08/28/nestles-attempt-to-completely-privatize-steal-water-in-oregon-put-to-a-stop-our-water-our-future/>
from people and San Bernardino National Forest
<https://www.mintpressnews.com/court-gives-nestle-green-light-continue-bottling-water-national-forest/221313/>
reserves and then selling
<http://theantimedia.org/nestle-pays-only-524-to-exract-27000000-gallons-of-california-drinking-water/>
it back to people in plastic water bottles. Zero Mass Water can deliver
clean water to people in the poorest nations, with no need for piping or
complicated water plants. The solar panel itself is smaller than a
traditional air conditioner and can be placed in remote areas with ease.

The United Nations claims
<http://www.unwater.org/water-cooperation-2013/water-cooperation/facts-and-figures/en/>
that more than 783 million people currently lack clean drinking water and
more than 6 million people die annually from water-borne disease. They also
claim that, with population growth, we can expect a 50 percent increase in
water demand; but they haven’t accounted for simple technologies which can
make use of millions of gallons of water using clean, sustainable, and even
simple technologies. The demand for water could also easily be met by
practicing better water harvesting, catchment, and filtering.

Zero Mass Water joins other breakthrough technologies like the “Drinkable
Book”
<https://www.inverse.com/article/5422-the-drinkable-book-could-bring-clean-water-to-millions>
and experimental wastewater filters
<https://www.inverse.com/article/6563-katrik-chandran-the-macarthur-fellow-turning-waste-into-clean-energy-we-are-getting-to-our-goal>,
which are trying to bring water to every corner of the world.

A blog post from Duke Energy, a partner in Zero Mass’s project claims the
water purification system doesn’t need an outside source of energy, so it
can be placed were infrastructure is damaged or non-existent.

At a recent installation in the coastal city of Guayaquil, Ecuador, a
medical clinic was able to enjoy clean water for the first time without
having to haul it in with trucks — an expensive endeavor. Though it rains
frequently in Ecuador, there is little potable water
<https://www.inverse.com/article/22509-zero-mass-water-solar-panels-provide-clean-water>
.

The project has targeted an even larger area for humanitarian aid —
water-generating solar panels are being placed in Jordan. The company claims
<https://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-global-initiative/commitments/zero-mass-water-access-quality-security>
the panels will help Syrian refugees in the country, possibly aiding
200,000 people, who currently have no access to clean drinking water.

If Zero Mass Water is successful in a war-torn area, their solar panels
might also be perfect for the 5,300 cities across the U.S. who have
been drinking
lead-contaminated water
<http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/28/us/epa-lead-in-u-s-water-systems/> due to
crumbling infrastructure and a political elite who have been unwilling to
replace old pipes with new ones, along with expensive water filters on
municipal supplies.

When the sun can bring you energy, *and* drinking water, there is little
need for poverty, ill-health, and reliance upon aging government and
corporate structures
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_privatization_in_the_United_States>.
This invention truly could democratize water for the planet.

*This article (These New Solar Panels Use Sunlight to Create Clean Drinking
Water from the Air
<http://undergroundreporter.org/solar-panels-sunlight-clean-water>) is free
and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a
Creative Commons <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/> license with
attribution to Christina Sarich
<http://undergroundreporter.org/author/christinas/>
and UndergroundReporter.org <http://undergroundreporter.org/>. Image
credit: Pexels <https://www.pexels.com/search/clean/>.*
-- 
Alan Enzo, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Permaculture Education Center
Nashville Permaculture Guild
PermacultureEducation.com