Zero Mass Water uses some nifty science to squeeze potable water from the air.
Using solar power, a single system can produce enough drinking water for two to three people each day–even in desert conditions.
"The problem statement was: How can we leapfrog infrastructure, just as cell phones do?"
Friesen says.
The solar panel converts sunlight to energy, which heats the material inside and creates condensation.
Minerals are added to improve taste, and ozone is added to maintain purity.
Then the water is pumped directly to a household tap or a refrigerator’s fill station.
Because the unit has its own solar panel, everything occurs off the grid.
A fan sucks air from the outside world and blows it through the material, which collects water at 20,000 times the concentration of vapor in the air.
Now, other students will follow in his footsteps: Several elementary schools in Arizona have installed Source panels to supply their water fountains.

LOS ANGELES — Californians were leaning against borrowing $9 billion for water projects Tuesday in a state where water scarcity often pits city dwellers, farmers, anglers and environmentalists against one another.
About 53 percent of voters opposed Proposition 3 with about 3.6 million votes counted.
The bond measure devoted money to storage and dam repairs, watershed and fisheries improvements, and habitat protection and restoration.
Together, they had contributed more than $5 million to the campaign by mid-October.
Sierra Club California and the League of Women Voters of California were among opponents who said the measure benefited special interests while siphoning money from other programs.
No significant money was spent by the opposition.
Proposition 3 was the largest water bond proposal since California’s nonpartisan legislative analyst began keeping track in 1970.
Local governments were projected to save about $200 million annually for water-related projects, with some matching funds required and preference given to disadvantaged communities.
Voters previously approved nearly $35 billion in bonds since 1970 for water and environmental projects, including $4 billion from a ballot measure passed in June.
About a third of all funding remains unspent.

He points out that for this region, mobility has been an important aspect of humanity for millennia.
However, in today’s environment of climate change marginalizing those who live on the fringes of the habitable zones of the world, there are growing issues of broader security and geopolitical challenges to face too, including water scarcity.
While other observers have warned of mass migrations that might arise because of climate change and the problems it brings in this region, their predictions often ignore the rich heritage of human mobility in this region as well as not necessarily taking into account the adaptability of the people of this and neighbouring regions.
"Human mobility is a prominent feature of the geographic area of the WANA countries, ‘pull’ factors (such as the presence of rich countries, the commonality of language and culture, etc.)
He adds that migrants moving from Sub-Saharan Africa towards the Western European countries often stop in the nearer countries along the journey, creating what is now known as transit migration.
This does lead to potential instability and conflicts in and among the countries affected.
This will require a multidisciplinary approach that can grasp the complexities and variables that drive or slow migration.
More information: Bruno Venditto.
Water, migration and environment in a Mediterranean perspective, International Journal of Migration and Residential Mobility (2018).
DOI: 10.1504/IJMRM.2018.094801

Bihar may face water crisis from January-February next year as 275 of 540 blocks have been declared drought-hit, worried chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday but said the government is charting out a plan to fight it.
Speaking at the 11th foundation day of the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority, he said the government will ensure supply of drinking water to villages and mark water bodies for availability when the groundwater table plummets.
The chief minister is the authority’s chairman.
The groundwater level is going down, so there could be scarcity of drinking water from January-February,” Nitish said.
“I have asked my officials to ensure drinking water for the people.
I am regularly reviewing the situation on my level.” Minister for disaster management Dinesh Chandra Yadav, disaster management authority vice-chairman Vyasji and member P.N.
Speaking on the drought situation in the state, Nitish pointed out that cattle suffer because of water scarcity and the government was making efforts there too.
“In case of water scarcity, people with no resources leave their cattle behind.
We have identified big ponds where water will be available by use of solar pumps.
Special camps will be set up near the ponds for cattle.

“Syrian refugees have increased water needs by 21 percent throughout the Kingdom and 40 percent in the north,” Iyad Dahiyat, Jordan’s minister of water, told FranceInfo last year.
According to the ministry, each Syrian refugee costs the water sector approximately 440 JD/year.
The past 350 years have seen little progress on the project, due primarily to geopolitical tensions preventing cooperation among Jordan, Israel, and Palestine, all of which have a significant stake in the body of water.
Phase I involves the construction of a desalination plant north of Aqaba, which will process 80-100 million cubic meters of water per year.
After desalination, salt brine will be piped to the Dead Sea in hopes of saving it from evaporation.
The infrastructure project builds on a 2015 water-swap agreement between Jordan, Israel, and Palestine.
“There’s still a connection through the canal, but overall, it’s more of a water swap agreement between the three governments than the huge canal that was planned in the ’90s.” Saving a Symbol Officials are hopeful that the RSDSCP will help alleviate the country’s drought, but also that it will save a symbolically important body of water: the Dead Sea.
Now, the sea is rapidly evaporating, receiving only 10 percent of the freshwater necessary to replenish itself.
“The symbolic importance of saving the Dead Sea is important for the two countries from a funding perspective,” Hussein told the HPR.
Water scarcity problems around the world are a shared problem and a shared responsibility,” she said.

CAIRO – 5 November 2018: The session titled “Day Zero: Water security in the wake of climate change” took place on Nov.5 in Sharm El Sheikh within the agenda of the 2018 World Youth Forum (WYF).
By 2030, 75 percent of the World Population will suffer from water scarcity.
1.8 million will be hit by drought.
Twenty-four to 27 million will be displaced as result of water scarcity,” Australian Member of the World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW) Alex Whitebrook.
As forty percent of the world population are youth, water scarcity will affect young generations the most in the near future, President of WYPW, and Research assistant for the Dean of Agriculture and Food Sciences at the American University in Beirut (AUB) Lindsey Aldaco-Manner.
“We should train journalists to cover climate change topics so they would become the link between science and public,” Journalist and President of the Egyptian Youth Parliament for Water Amira Sayed.

At least 31 per cent of households in Uganda lack access to clean and safe water and 19 per cent do not have access to sanitation.
In Maddu Sub-county, Gomba District, residents have to walk for close to 10 kilometres to find safe and clean water for domestic use.
His is an example of the difficulty the rest of the communities go through to access water in a sub-county where 69 per cent of households do not have access to clean and safe water.
The minister’s promise comes against a recent survey by Water.Org, a non-governmental organisation, that 61 per cent of Ugandans lack access to safe water and that 75 per cent do not have access to improved sanitation facilities.
The report also adds that 78 per cent households harvest rainwater as Plan B.
In Maddu Town Council where a solar-powered water pump has already been installed, residents pay Shs100 for a 20-litre jerrycan of water.
Mr Godfrey Kiviiri, the Gomba District chairperson, says: “As the population increases, safe water coverage will as well increase and save our people from the burden of sharing water sources with animals.
Water stressed districts need to be considered in a special way and given reasonable funds to increase safe water.” Not spared The water scarcity does not end at household level.
Ms Grace Kizito, the secretary for health and education, says health centres are ailing.
“It is lack of clean water that has seen Maddu Health Centre IV theatre non-functional for close to four years now yet it is the top ranked government facility in the district,” she reveals.

Pakistan is facing the worst water crisis.
The water policy of Pakistan should consist of the following points.
The relevant department must fix leakages in canals by using pipes and educate the public to reduce wastage in cities and industries.
New irrigation techniques – like drip irrigation – should be implemented to save water.
Small and medium sized dams should be constructed to save the rainwater.
Dumping of waste and chemicals in the rivers and the seas should be made punishable under the law.
Water treatment plants must be installed to remove toxic material from the water supplied for drinking purposes.
The quality of water should be checked on a regular basis to ensure that citizens are receiving clean water.
If the government carries out these steps, it will be able to tackle the water crisis to a great extent.
Engr Shahryar Khan Baseer Peshawar

Finding a bride is a Herculean task in Bharatpur’s villages not because the grooms are ineligible but because of the severe water crisis and the depleting ground water levels.
Young women no longer want to move to these villages and haul water miles everyday, and girls quickly move out after marriage.
The residents of these villages in the Deeg-Kumher and Nagar assembly constituencies have written letters to everyone from Prime Minister Narendra Modi downwards and say nothing has worked.
The Deeg-Kumher MLA is Congress’ Vishvendra Singh while Nagar is headed by BJP’s Anita Singh Gurjar.
Disappointed with their legislators, residents say they will not let candidates discuss votes until they are provided with a timebound solution to the two-decade-old water problem.
Unmarried men between the ages of 25 and 40 years are common in these villages that used to marry off boys before the age of 21.
“Nobody wants to marry into these villages where they will be expected to walk for kilometres to fetch water,” said Roop Singh.
In their recent letter to the PM, residents of 40 villages shared their problems and expressed the need for immediate action to resolving the water crisis.
Bharatpur zila parishad member Neim Singh, who has been taking up the water scarcity issues at different levels, said, “Some of the worst-affected villages are Mawai, Mavesara, Bedam, Kakra and Moroli.
The dam has dried up as the river has no water.

Chittoor: Due to lack of perennial rivers in and around Chittoor city, ground water levels were receded drastically during the past three decades in Chittoor city.
As a result, people have been facing acute drinking water scarcity and they are forced to purchase water from private tankers.
The city with 50 divisions, has a population of 2.4 lakhs.
Majority of the people purchase drinking water from private suppliers including mineral water units The Chittoor Municipal Corporation has failed to supply drinking water to the city due to funds crunch and other reasons.
The private tankers are charging Rs.10 per three pots of water from the public , where water business has become lucrative.
The CMC is able to supply only 11 lakh MLD (million litres per day) water against the requirement of 22.7 lakhs MLD water through bore wells and by pumping water from N T R Jalasayam.
After three decades of drinking water scarcity, it was decided to launch Chittoor Water Supply Scheme at Adivipalli for diverting HNSS (Handri-Neeva Sujala Sravanti) water to Chittoor city with an estimated cost of Rs.280 crore by using AMRUT funds.
The TDP Government had earlier assured supply of HNSS water to Chittoor before December-2018.
Source reveal that the proposal was dropped as Central Government had reportedly objected the diversion of AMRUT funds to Chittoor water supply scheme .
Speaking to The Hans India here on Sunday, Chittoor Mayor K Hemalatha admitted that there was no scope for supplying HNSS water to Chittoor city in near future as Central Government was restricting not to divert AMRUT funds.