Drinking Water May Be Generated with Solar Energy

Rural communities with no drinking water could take advantage out from solar energy, because by this energetic alternative water may be purified when contaminated and prevent the illnesses that it cause, said Juan Jorge Hermosillo Villalobos, solar energy applications specialist.

In the Universidad Veracruzana (UV) he explained that the techniques to purify water through solar energy aren’t new, yet people still aren’t familiar with them. Causing its use to be limited to very specific cases.

It is important to reinforce that drinking contaminated water is one of the main causes of death, most among infants, plus it causes numerous illnesses, it is a harder problem in rural zones where there is no supply of drinking water, and people drinks “clean” water from their wells or from near water currents.

“Two million and a half children died each year in the world caused by diarrhea, we need to ask how much of them are Mexican” said Hermosillo, whom besides his participation on the National Solar Energy Association, is chief of the Department of Technological and Industrial Processes from the ITESO.

Hermosillo Villalobos assured that there is a lack of consciousness on the diseases that one can get through the water, mainly because it looks at the same if it is pure or contaminated: “people see trans lucid water and deduct it is clean , that’s the mistake, because microorganisms are not perceived by the eye.”

He explained that with the solar energy purification techniques it is possible to achieve tree effects: purify water that it’s contaminated with nocive microorganisms, destilate water from undesired minerals and desalinate sea water, making it able for human consumption.

“In Veracruz, for example, this technique could be very useful, because it is a stet with a hydrologic richness to envy, but unfortunately most of these source is contaminated. However, they feed numerous rural towns”, he said.

He also explained that these techniques are only worth in small scale, say, in rural communities with a limited supply, but economically they are not worth for greater water volumes as needed by other cities like Jalapa or Puebla, where a treatment plan is needed.

He took as an example the purifying procedure of solar heating “the most economic way is to heat water -using a sort of water heater- to a temperature where microorganisms die, eliminated by exposure to ultraviolet radiation, or desalinate water with instruments to evaporate and condense water, minerals are isolated in the purifying process.

The academic told us that the lack of consciousness about taking care of water and the spreading of these purifying techniques is the cause that only a few states takes advantage from solar energy “I’ve only seen real applications in Baja California and Sonora, mainly to desalinate water and take it to small communities near to the shore.”

He warned us that the use of energy alternatives also benefits sustainable development, and it should be part of the general knowledge on environmental education for Mexican people; it may even be the base of a productive sustainable company if someone with vision noticed that the creation of commercial purification systems with solar energy may be more profitable: “It is an investment that worth every cent, because it uses an already existing technology, only a proper marketing strategy is needed”, he told.

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