English 101
December 10, 2013

Billboard That Creates Drinkable Water Out of Thin Air

In Lima, Peru an engineering University has equipped the city with a billboard that produces drinkable water out of thin air. The billboard produces 26 gallons a day from nothing more than humidity and a filtration system. That might not seem like much to you and me, but let me tell you a little bit about the city of Lima first. Lima is the largest city in Peru with a population of 7.6 million, even more if you add in the surrounding metro area. It is part of the costal desert of Atacama, the driest desert in the world, so the city only sees about half an inch of rainfall a year. With lack of rainfall to supply water to the city, Lima depends on drainage from the Andes and runoff from glacier melt, sources that are on the decline recently. That’s where the University of Engineering and Technology of Peru came into play by providing them with the billboard. The people of Lima get their water from wells and it’s not that clean or sanitary. The billboard provides a lot fresher and cleaner water. The billboard takes the humidity from the air, which on average is about 83%, and runs it through a series of filters and a condenser. The water then runs down the billboard to a holding tank at its base where you can find an easily accessible faucet. The billboard produced 2,500 gallons in just three months, which equals the consumption of hundreds of families in a month. If a bunch of these could be strategically placed throughout the city that 26 gallons a day would provide plenty of water for its inhabitants. Not only in Lima, but this innovation could be an important asset for troubled spots around the world that are in need of potable water. This innovation has a positive effect on the local society. Water to us here in the United States is something that we don’t really worry about at all. It’s just something that we have and think we will always have so why should we worry about it. In troubled areas like Lima however the small amount of water that the billboard produces probably means the world to them and I imagine they are very grateful to have it. As I said before the people of Lima have to get their water from wells deep in the ground. People in the U.S. would think it’s silly and old school to see somebody pulling a bucket full of water out of a well. With a bunch of these billboards placed around the city it could have a great impact on allowing the people to save time obtaining water. I don’t know about you but I would rather fill my bucket up with a faucet then have to send it down a well and pull it back up a few times. Another positive effect it could have on the society is its sanitary value. The video on the article stated that the water the people get from the wells isn’t that clean or sanitary. So the clean water produced by the billboards could allow for the people of the city to be healthier and a less chance of viruses and diseases that could be lurking in the dirty water. An overall healthier population allows for less money to have to be spent on medicine that would be used to cure the sicknesses. It could also allow for more production in the work place with everybody healthier. Something else to think about relates to what normal billboards primary focus is, advertisement. This technologically advanced billboard may not be advertising anything but it could target young people of the community seeking careers in engineering. Yea some people will just drive by and be thankful for it, but there are others who will be thinking of ways that they could improve the efficiency of the billboard or maybe ways to better distribute the water. So not only would the billboard be producing water it could also be encouraging people to improve it. Politically the billboard could have and even greater impact on the community. I keep talking about putting a bunch more of the billboards up throughout the