While most of us, who also have the privilege of using the Internet daily and therefore can read this, don’t have any problems getting fresh drinking water, that’s not the case for everyone. Around 2.2 billion people struggle because they don’t have safe access to drinking water which could seem pretty ironic considering we live on a planet that is 2/3 water. But no need for those long faces as there might be a solution to this problem.
The NGO ‘GivePower’ installed its first solar farm in Kenya in August 2018, which turns salt water into safe drinking water, effectively allowing more than 35,000 people access to clean water.
Even though it’s commonly thought that 1/3 of people don’t have access to drinking water, the problem is much bigger in some regions, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, the Kenyan town of Kiunga was chosen for the instalment of this plant specifically to tackle this problem and help as many people as possible. After this success, the organization is already planning similar projects in Colombia and Haiti.
Powered by solar energy, the desalination systems are housed in 20-foot shipping containers. They are capable of producing 50 kilowatts of energy and power two water pumps. With this, they transform 75,000 litres of brackish and seawater into clean and drinkable water every day at the cost of just $20 per person, the farm can provide 20 years of access to clean water.
Until now, GivePower has deployed more than 2,650 solar-powered energy systems to schools, medical clinics and villages in 17 developing countries as it seeks to make systemic, generational change that impacts millions.
