WATER ABLAZE - Patagonia Sin Represas

13.9 Alternative Methods of Supplying and Distributing Water
People are now trying to work out how to “organise” water supplies
once available resources have been used up or contaminated. There is
no point in my evaluating individual concepts here because we have
almost no experience in this field. An appraisal can only be made
concerning a concrete situation or when an emergency arises.
• Desalination plants using membrane technology to transform
salt water into fresh water have already acquired certain
significance.
• On the other hand, the German company Aqua Society has
developed a module for the production of drinking water,
which involves cooling the air to dew point and harvesting the
condensation in a collecting tank. The water is then filtered
and mineralised.
• Another conceivable solution is the transport of vast
quantities of drinking water. Consideration has been given to
the possibility of towing icebergs from the Antarctic to arid
regions, to secure the drinking water supply in those areas.
• In 2005, Dutch georesearchers from the Omegae consortium
discovered huge quantities of ground water at a depth of 50
to 100 metres under the seabed and plan to extract it with
the help of drilling rigs. Work is currently being carried out
on a pilot scheme aimed at using this procedure to supply the
Indonesian megametropolis Jakarta.
• One comparatively simple method which is already being
practised is the long-distance transport of fresh water in plastic
tubes towed by ships.
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