An exhibition of inventions, artwork and artifacts explores our relationship with water and how the world might cope with future scarcity of this invaluable resource
Water-related diseases cause most premature deaths in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions of the world. This continuous-flow solar-disinfection and arsenic-removal system is designed to produce clean water supplies for remote villages....[More]
USING SUNLIGHT TO CLEAN WATER, by Laurence Gill.
Water-related diseases cause most premature deaths in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions of the world. This continuous-flow solar-disinfection and arsenic-removal system is designed to produce clean water supplies for remote villages. Water flows through a transparent pipe set at the focal point of a compound parabolic reflector that kills water-borne pathogens with ultraviolet radiation and the sun’s heat.
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Courtesy of Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin
BIT.FALL, by Julius Popp.
In a split second, "Bit.Fall" releases hundreds of drops at specific intervals, creating a "waterfall" of words. A giant printer linked to a remote Internet server, the device uses water rather than ink to discharge a steady stream of words....[More]
BIT.FALL, by Julius Popp.
In a split second, "Bit.Fall" releases hundreds of drops at specific intervals, creating a "waterfall" of words. A giant printer linked to a remote Internet server, the device uses water rather than ink to discharge a steady stream of words. Each drop of water thus becomes a fluid and transient pixel, or bit, of data. Water, quicksilver medium that is it, is transformed into a carrier of cultural information that is perceptible for a brief second and then disappears. The output is pure ephemerality—a literal rain of words.
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Courtesy of Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin
URBAN WATER NEEDS: CAN WE KEEP UP?, by Matthew Laws, Hal Watts.
This world map features landmasses made out of cheap kitchen sponges. Laws and Watts poured water onto each nation's compressed sponge form in amounts that are proportional to its expected urban water consumption in 2030....[More]
URBAN WATER NEEDS: CAN WE KEEP UP?, by Matthew Laws, Hal Watts.
This world map features landmasses made out of cheap kitchen sponges. Laws and Watts poured water onto each nation's compressed sponge form in amounts that are proportional to its expected urban water consumption in 2030. The sponges then grew in height according to how thirsty the country will be, generating a stark topography of future needs for urban domestic water.
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Courtesy of Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin
THE VIRTUAL WATER PROJECT, by Timm Kekeritz.
People use large quantities of water for drinking, cooking and washing—but even though they probably do not think about it, they use considerably more water in the production of the things they use every day, such as paper, clothing and other manufactured goods....[More]
THE VIRTUAL WATER PROJECT, by Timm Kekeritz.
People use large quantities of water for drinking, cooking and washing—but even though they probably do not think about it, they use considerably more water in the production of the things they use every day, such as paper, clothing and other manufactured goods. The freshwater that goes into making a product is known as its virtual ("embodied," or hidden), water content. Designer Timm Kekeritz has created a set of infographics that makes the issue of virtual water readily understandable and enables viewers to get a feel for the size of their water footprints. Such knowledge will be critical in tackling the serious challenges of freshwater scarcity in the next two decades.
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Courtesy of Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin
HIDDEN, by Matthew Costello.
The average U.S. family of four uses about 1,500 liters of water every day for drinking, washing, sanitation or watering plants. Yet the amount of virtual, or “hidden,” water used to produce the goods and food that the family consumes averages some 15,000 liters a day....[More]
HIDDEN, by Matthew Costello.
The average U.S. family of four uses about 1,500 liters of water every day for drinking, washing, sanitation or watering plants. Yet the amount of virtual, or “hidden,” water used to produce the goods and food that the family consumes averages some 15,000 liters a day. This exhibit includes a set of glass vessels that are intended to demonstrate the amounts of water required to manufacture common industrial materials. The stopper in each bottle is made from a different material: steel, aluminum, epoxy, glass and ceramic, whereas the vessels are sized to contain the quantity of water used to produce that bottle’s cap.
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Courtesy of Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin
AQUA-NU FILTER WATER BOTTLE, by Aqua-Nu Filtration Systems.
This exhibit marks the introduction of the Aqua-Nu reusable ceramic filter water bottle for personal use. The new device can supply cost-effective, safe and pure drinking water in a wide range of consumer, humanitarian and industrial applications....[More]
AQUA-NU FILTER WATER BOTTLE, by Aqua-Nu Filtration Systems.
This exhibit marks the introduction of the Aqua-Nu reusable ceramic filter water bottle for personal use. The new device can supply cost-effective, safe and pure drinking water in a wide range of consumer, humanitarian and industrial applications. According to the maker, it is the first filter with an unassisted flow rate of up to 1.2 liters of water per minute that removes 99.9999 percent of harmful microbes such as cryptosporidium protozoa—up to 700 times faster than its closest rival ceramic product.
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Courtesy of Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin
BOTTLED WASTE, by Hal Watts.
How much energy goes into creating a one-liter bottle of water? On average, its embodied energy is around five megajoules, an amount that is more than 1,000 times the hidden energy in a liter of tap water....[More]
BOTTLED WASTE, by Hal Watts.
How much energy goes into creating a one-liter bottle of water? On average, its embodied energy is around five megajoules, an amount that is more than 1,000 times the hidden energy in a liter of tap water. This exhibit uses a series of gears, a pump and a brake to make this mismatch tangible by asking viewers to work to supply the energy required to produce a liter of bottled water—about three hours of work—or tap water, only 20 minutes.
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Courtesy of Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin
BASIN, by Lane Hall, Lisa Moline.
Basin is a mural-size blackboard with a chalked flowchart that records the complex politics that confront water resources in the 21st century....[More]
BASIN, by Lane Hall, Lisa Moline.
Basin is a mural-size blackboard with a chalked flowchart that records the complex politics that confront water resources in the 21st century. Key water issues are diagrammatically mapped with the intention to display the deep interconnections between the local, regional and global scales in a form that is both authoritative and realistically ephemeral: erased, rewritten, reconfigured.
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Courtesy of Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin
WATERWISE: WASHING FUTURES, by Ruth Doyle, Anna Davies and Chris Judge.
How might our personal washing habits evolve in the future to meet the challenges of sustainability? Nearly 40 percent of the water we use every day goes toward washing, including bathing and cleaning our teeth....[More]
WATERWISE: WASHING FUTURES, by Ruth Doyle, Anna Davies and Chris Judge.
How might our personal washing habits evolve in the future to meet the challenges of sustainability? Nearly 40 percent of the water we use every day goes toward washing, including bathing and cleaning our teeth. "WaterWise" invites viewers to step into the year 2050 and imagine more sustainable washing routines that could be possible through the use of advanced technologies as well as water systems supported by alternative cultural norms and water regulations. For instance, one scenario asks us to adapt our washing behavior according to natural weather fluctuations; another posits high-tech, waterless washing.
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Courtesy of Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin
PREPAID WATER METER, by EFTEQ.
The Efteq Intelligent Water Meter is an example of a "water management device," or prepaid meter, that can be programmed to release set amounts of water to control daily consumption....[More]
PREPAID WATER METER, by EFTEQ.
The Efteq Intelligent Water Meter is an example of a "water management device," or prepaid meter, that can be programmed to release set amounts of water to control daily consumption. Prepaid meters, which have been used in South Africa since the 1990s, are illegal in the U.K., where officials judged them to be a public health risk. This object speaks both to the need to ration and manage water carefully in the face of scarcity and to water's rising status as a market commodity. Access to water may be restricted by a person’s ability to pay for it, which lies in opposition to the notion of access to water as a human right, or of "common ownership" of water.
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Courtesy of Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin
TELE-PRESENT WATER, by David Bowen.
This installation is a mobile mechanical grid structure that mimics the wave movement now being experienced by U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data buoy station 51003 in the Pacific Ocean, which a year ago broke free of its moorings some 300 kilometers southwest of Honolulu....[More]
TELE-PRESENT WATER, by David Bowen.
This installation is a mobile mechanical grid structure that mimics the wave movement now being experienced by U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data buoy station 51003 in the Pacific Ocean, which a year ago broke free of its moorings some 300 kilometers southwest of Honolulu. It is now lost but still transmitting information. The somewhat spooky result is an ever-changing, marionettelike simulation of the wave action occurring at some distant, unknown location at sea.
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Courtesy of Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
There's lots of fresh water her in Canada. If one lives in a country with limited amounts then the solution is simple...population reduction! Everything else is more or less feel-good nothingness.
There is plenty of water. We humans barely scratch the amount of fresh water and technological advances will eventually make sea water available beyond the few places in the world where that is already being done.
However, before the enviro-extremists get on their high horses about how evil America is for using water in agriculture, while other parts of the world suffer with water shortages, check the reality of those places.
For example, India uses one of the largest fresh water supplies they have, the Ganges river as a bathtub, sewer and cemetery by dumping the ashes of the dead in the river. So when those parts of the world catch up to America with keeping water clean, then maybe they can complain they dont have enough. Yes America wastes water in Agriculture but at least that produces food. When you have ridiculous "traditions" or people so self centered they would use a river for a bath, then sorry there is simply no reason to demand someone else solve the problem.
Considering most places in Africa and Asia use their rivers and lakes for waste, too bad for them. I am not on this planet to pay for the stupidity of others.
The article very clearly states the problem: "The seven billion people living on our planet rely on the same 1 percent of available freshwater as did every previous generation."
However, since the population has increased from ~2.5 billion people in 1950, the amount of potable water has more likely been significantly decreased due to human, industrial and agricultural contamination!
Since the population is projected to increase to >9 billion by 2050, perhaps controlling population growth should receive the highest priority. Reducing regional populations to 1950 levels would produce a much more sustainable environment!
I have lived in 90 countries, most what we call the underdeveloped countries. There is plenty of water, but the big problem is the bottle water companies are all normally owned by people who are also in the government in the poorer countries. They will sabotage any effort to have clean water. Andy Graham of HoboTraveler.com, 14 years of perpetual travel and still on the road.
First stop polluting perfectly good water and pumping it underground to get Natural Gas!! Why in hell are we allowing Gas companies to pump water that has been contaminated with chemicals into the ground where it will likely remain for hundreds of years or until people decide they have to pump it out and clean it in order to drink it? Human beings are the most retarded of species! The deficate right in the same place they eat and then invite others to come over do the same all so they drive around in cars! The answer is obvious and right under our noses but greed stops us from taking the obvious course to correct these most basic of problems!
7. northamerican
in reply to priddseren09:19 PM 5/21/12
Priddseren: The article is about solving water problems, not name calling. Since you write that you are not interested in helping others, Why are you bothering to read and write in a forum held by those who do want to contribute to the world? Read on if you are a self interested angler, or like cheap energy, and DIY projects.
Harvesting rain water, and composting toilets, both at comercial scales, could save not only river water that would improve fish habitat, but save on energy consumption since much of the cost of municipal water is the pumping and processing. High-tech composting toilets could recoup nutrients that could be returned to tree farms etc. to cheapen yield while reducing pollution, and reducing use of energy intensive fertilizer.
What is needed is for architects and engineers to develop the structures and technologies so that city governments can put such technologies into their building and safety codes.
I keep pushing for good grade school earth science classes. More co2 means more flora would be able to exist. More flora produces more o2. More o2 means more fauna. A very nice cycle of life, don't you think?
I also hold in wonder those who rail against fossil fuels. Their very lives are impacted by products made from petroleum, such as this wonderful computer with witch I write. Water is not wasted in Agriculture. How do you suppose our little organic herbs and vegetables are grown. Unicorn urine, I suppose.
Those who are proponents of population control should lead by example and throw themselves on the pyre. think of it as late trimester birth control.
Kudos to those who thoughtfully research the problem. We need answers not bumper stickers. These are the scientific Americans.
Enforce water recycling and there will be enough for all. That includes water used for agriculture, mining and fracking. Get Las vegas to recycle waste water to replenish the Colorado. If certain technologies cannot allow water to be recycled, ban them altogether!
Drink Up: Taking the Salt out of Seawater
The False Promise of Biofuels
Phosphorus Famine: The Threat to Our Food Supply
Sea Change: Environmental Group Gives First-Time Nod to Sustainable Salmon-Farming Method
The African Green Revolution
Speaking Out on the "Quiet Crisis"
Drinking from a Bottle Instead of the Tap Just Doesn't Hold Water
Threat Down Below: Polluted Caves Endanger Water Supplies, Wildlife
9 Comments
Add CommentThere's lots of fresh water her in Canada. If one lives in a country with limited amounts then the solution is simple...population reduction! Everything else is more or less feel-good nothingness.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is plenty of water. We humans barely scratch the amount of fresh water and technological advances will eventually make sea water available beyond the few places in the world where that is already being done.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHowever, before the enviro-extremists get on their high horses about how evil America is for using water in agriculture, while other parts of the world suffer with water shortages, check the reality of those places.
For example, India uses one of the largest fresh water supplies they have, the Ganges river as a bathtub, sewer and cemetery by dumping the ashes of the dead in the river. So when those parts of the world catch up to America with keeping water clean, then maybe they can complain they dont have enough. Yes America wastes water in Agriculture but at least that produces food. When you have ridiculous "traditions" or people so self centered they would use a river for a bath, then sorry there is simply no reason to demand someone else solve the problem.
Considering most places in Africa and Asia use their rivers and lakes for waste, too bad for them. I am not on this planet to pay for the stupidity of others.
Solar energy to electricity to conversion of ocean water to drinking water will work as long as there are oceans and sun, of course
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe article very clearly states the problem:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"The seven billion people living on our planet rely on the same 1 percent of available freshwater as did every previous generation."
However, since the population has increased from ~2.5 billion people in 1950, the amount of potable water has more likely been significantly decreased due to human, industrial and agricultural contamination!
Since the population is projected to increase to >9 billion by 2050, perhaps controlling population growth should receive the highest priority. Reducing regional populations to 1950 levels would produce a much more sustainable environment!
I have lived in 90 countries, most what we call the underdeveloped countries. There is plenty of water, but the big problem is the bottle water companies are all normally owned by people who are also in the government in the poorer countries. They will sabotage any effort to have clean water. Andy Graham of HoboTraveler.com, 14 years of perpetual travel and still on the road.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFirst stop polluting perfectly good water and pumping it underground to get Natural Gas!! Why in hell are we allowing Gas companies to pump water that has been contaminated with chemicals into the ground where it will likely remain for hundreds of years or until people decide they have to pump it out and clean it in order to drink it? Human beings are the most retarded of species! The deficate right in the same place they eat and then invite others to come over do the same all so they drive around in cars! The answer is obvious and right under our noses but greed stops us from taking the obvious course to correct these most basic of problems!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPriddseren: The article is about solving water problems, not name calling. Since you write that you are not interested in helping others, Why are you bothering to read and write in a forum held by those who do want to contribute to the world? Read on if you are a self interested angler, or like cheap energy, and DIY projects.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHarvesting rain water, and composting toilets, both at comercial scales, could save not only river water that would improve fish habitat, but save on energy consumption since much of the cost of municipal water is the pumping and processing. High-tech composting toilets could recoup nutrients that could be returned to tree farms etc. to cheapen yield while reducing pollution, and reducing use of energy intensive fertilizer.
What is needed is for architects and engineers to develop the structures and technologies so that city governments can put such technologies into their building and safety codes.
I keep pushing for good grade school earth science classes. More co2 means more flora would be able to exist. More flora produces more o2. More o2 means more fauna. A very nice cycle of life, don't you think?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI also hold in wonder those who rail against fossil fuels. Their very lives are impacted by products made from petroleum, such as this wonderful computer with witch I write. Water is not wasted in Agriculture. How do you suppose our little organic herbs and vegetables are grown. Unicorn urine, I suppose.
Those who are proponents of population control should lead by example and throw themselves on the pyre. think of it as late trimester birth control.
Kudos to those who thoughtfully research the problem. We need answers not bumper stickers. These are the scientific Americans.
Enforce water recycling and there will be enough for all. That includes water used for agriculture, mining and fracking. Get Las vegas to recycle waste water to replenish the Colorado. If certain technologies cannot allow water to be recycled, ban them altogether!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this