Solar-powered panels that condense water vapour in the air could be a sustainable source of drinking water in dry areas. A centre run by the Samburu Girls Foundation – which rescues girls facing early marriage and female genital mutilation – has a new high-tech source of it. Since June, the centre, which has rescued more than 1,200 girls, has used panels that catch water vapour in the air and condense it to supply their drinking water. But now, officials at the school say, the girls no longer have to travel for water – including into communities they have left, which could put them at risk. Girls formerly trekked up to five kilometres a day in search of clean water during particularly dry periods, sometimes bringing them into contact with members of their former community. The centre, given 40 of the water vapour-condensing panels by the company that builds them, now creates about 400 litres of clean water each day, enough to provide all the drinking water the centre needs. The “hydropanels”, produced by U.S.-based technology company
Zero Mass Water, pull water vapour from the air and condense it into a reservoir. Credit: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
