In India, roughly 45 percent of the population is drinking untreated water. In the rural village of Mhasawad, many residents regularly drink water with salinity levels of 1,200 ppm (parts per million), double the levels recommended by the World Health Organization. Water with high salinity levels can cause countless health problems including kidney stones and digestive problems, and taxes the energy grid. But for many, purchasing treated water can cost upwards of 30 percent of one’s monthly salary.
At the beginning of this year, we traveled to several rural villages to meet with farmers and villagers to better understand the problem. Back at MIT, we are now developing a cost-effective solar-powered desalination system to provide a safe and affordable source of drinking water. This is not just an engineering problem—we are operating as product designers, ethnographers, social scientists, and machine designers to test our assumptions and build a lasting solution. Ask us anything!
Watch the recent video "Water is Life" on our work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLPiIChFMIA Read the recent article "A Quest for Clean Water" published on MIT News: http://ift.tt/2a1nf8J
ABOUT US: Amos Winter: I’m an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. I also am the director of the Global Engineering and Research (GEAR) Lab, which focuses on the marriage of mechanical design theory and user-centered product design to create simple, elegant technological solutions for use in highly constrained environments.
Natasha Wright: I’m a doctoral candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, and a Fellow in the Tata Center for Technology and Design. My current work focuses on using electrodialysis technology, powered by photovoltaics, to provide clean drinking water in off-grid settings.
We will be back at 4 pm ET (1 pm PT) to answer you questions, ask us anything!
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