If there is to be a third world war, many have said, it will be over water. This is the principle Maithri Aquatech founder M. Ramkrishna reiterates in explaining why the atmospheric water generator (AWG) is a technology whose time has come. India’s warmer climate causes more water to evaporate from land as well as oceans, further reducing the availability of fresh water; but the ray of hope is that this puts more water in the atmosphere. Research indicates that for every 1 degree of warming, the air contains about 7 per cent more water vapour. The atmosphere already contains 37.5 million billion gallons of water, and this moisture is bound to increase due to increased evaporation caused by global warming.
With 97 per cent of the water available on the planet being salty, and 2 per cent locked in glaciers, only about 1 per cent is available for usage by all living creatures, flora and fauna. Even this scarce water is being contaminated because of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, while irregular rainfall, inefficient agricultural practices and lack of conservation efforts compound the problem.
India is one of the most water-stressed countries in the world. Most alarmingly, a recent report released by Niti Aayog says 21 cities, including Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, are expected to run out of groundwater this year.
Of the existing potable water solutions, reverse osmosis removes essential minerals from the water, he says referring to a WHO finding; it also discards about two-thirds of the input water as a concentrated waste stream. Desalination systems, which have been installed on some seafronts, dump brine back into the sea, which severely damaging biodiversity.
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A solution to slaking global thirst
