Lack of clean drinking water is dominating economically developing countries. (“Water”) Peru is most threatened by this depravity. The capital city, Lima, Peru functions as the driest desert in the world, residing in the coastal desert on the northern edge of Atacama. At the most, Lima receives a desolate half an inch of precipitation annually. (Peckham) Being the most crowded city in Peru, Lima is populated with almost 7.6 million people, out of which 1.5 million have explicitly no access to sanitary drinking water. (“billboard”) The Peruvian University of Engineering & Technology’s humidity condensing, clean water producing billboard positively affects economically developing countries by implementing an efficient, low-cost and sanitary …show more content…
Previously, the people depended on cisterns, an inefficient water source that needed to be laboriously filled and frequently cleaned by hand. Today, with the billboard established in the village of Bujama, south of Lima, people destitute of vital resources are just one simple faucet away from potable water. (“billboard”) The billboard’s use of Lima’s most abundant and natural resource, humidity, is the reason it stands above any other solution by the means of efficiency. Lima, Peru experiences a daily humidity of 90-100% and the billboard condenses that humidity through a reverse osmosis system and produces water. (Smith-Strickland) This fascinating solution takes the humidity already available and cleverly uses what most consider a burden into what is now considered a miracle for economically developing countries who face the same …show more content…
Chemical and microbiological contamination, specifically faecal contamination of drinking water supplies is a major threat to millions. (“water”) Previously, more than 1.5 million people of Lima depended on polluted, unsanitary sources such as cisterns for bathing and drinking water. (“billboard”) However, the billboard generates clean, potable water suitable for any use, including drinking. (Peckham) Also, as previously stated, the water from the Pacific Ocean, while plentiful is not safe for human consumption. This is no longer an issue because, as this CNN iReport states, “When humid air comes in contact with the condenser, the water vapor in the air condenses into liquid water - which is then purified through a reverse osmosis system and then collected in 20 litre tanks.”