NEWS: Recycled Water - NASA Plans To Test In Iraq And Asia, page 1

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 05:46 AM

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In Iraq there are many wells full of water, the problem being that when Saddam Hussein was in power dead animals have been dumped in them. This has contaminated the water and made it undrinkable. There are also many streams in Southeast Asia but since the recent tsunami have become polluted with salt.
So the problem in these regions is not a lack of water, but a lack of drinkable water. NASA researchers have been looking into this problem for over two decades and plan to send a 'tester' of a new piece of technology to Iraq and tsunami victims in Asia.

A device has been tested which will be made for the space station, and would recycle astronauts' sweat, respiration and urine into drinking water that is purer than any found in a tap.

www.enn.com
"They just breathe and exercise, urinate into the urinal and our system handles the rest," said Robyn Carrasquillo, chief of the environmental control and life support division at Marshall.

It could be two years before the water system -- as large as two refrigerators -- is loaded onto a shuttle to serve an American astronaut and Russian cosmonaut living in space. But smaller and simpler versions will soon be put to use on earth.

Reno, Nev.-based investment firm Crestridge and the charity Concern for Kids are developing the systems for humanitarian purposes in nations lacking a reliable water supply, starting with Iraq and countries in southeast Asia.

"There are 1.8 billion people who have never had a drink of fresh water," said Kevin Chambers, Crestridge's managing director. "Our mission is grand, but we've got to start somewhere and sometime -- and now is the time."

Rocket scientists trying to sustain life in space and humanitarians trying to increase the quality of life in third world countries kept running into the same problem -- a lack of clean but affordable drinking water.

Bottles of fresh water cost as much as $1.50 a gallon. Each weighs eight pounds, so the fees skyrocket when they're transported across the planet -- let alone beyond the stratosphere.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Wow, what a great piece of technology. Imagine the days when all our waste can we converted into fresh drinkable water. This is the next huge step for humans I believe as it could be used to extend time in space, allow victims of these disasters to have access to fresh water, and could even eventually be used for expeditions. Would you trust it to convert your urine into fresh water though? Hopefully after tests and prototypes it will be able to completely convert it to drinkable water.

Related News Links:
www.enn.com
www.waterrecycling.com

sardion2000

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 05:50 AM

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Did you hear about that other water purification technology that is reusable? It looks like a circular filter that can fit on regular canteens and the top is like a funnel for easy pouring, the filter is 99.97% effective and can be cleaned out using a regular oven or firepit. It costs pennies too I believe. Now if only I can remember what it was called and who invented it. It is very similiar to this Nasa technology, just simpler. Nanotech at its best IMO.

Good find btw.

phixion

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 05:53 AM

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Thanks -

Yeah I read about the funnel thing, how successful do you think it is though? How dirty is the water that it could turn into clean water?

You have always been able to get purification tablets to make water drinkable, not sure how well this would work in urine though

rapier28

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 05:59 AM

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I voted yes but just one question.

Is the article saying that Saddam dumped dead animals in wells?

phixion

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 06:03 AM

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Well it isn't the main point to the article, but yes it does say that.

According to the original article it is what he did, more is stated here.

sardion2000

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 06:04 AM

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Well I read reports that said you could urinate directly into it and drink it coming out the other side. I would want to see some tests for myself before I do the ultimate test. Another thing I do not like is pure water, it tastes horrible but I guess if thats all you have then it'll have to do.

This is kind of off topic but in one of the World Wars Canadian soldiers figured out they could protect themselves from Mustard gas by urinating into a cloth and wrapping it around their faces, so the point is if someone is desperate enough they will use it. I still want to see tests though, it would be interesting to see if it filters out Tritium(a pollutant from certain types of Reactors)

rapier28

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 06:22 AM

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Oh, i get it now.

He did it to the Kurds.

BTW, off topic but that Kurdish writer is pretty funny, pretty much blames everyone, hehe.

soficrow

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 06:25 AM

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It would be good to know if the filters work on depleted uranium too - a serious problem not just in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan following the use of DU weapons by the US military.

High Uranium Levels Found in Troops and Civilians

phixion

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 06:38 AM

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Scary stuff this depleted uranium is -

www.stopnato.org.uk...

phixion

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 06:38 AM

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Scary stuff this depleted uranium is -

www.stopnato.org.uk...

soficrow

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 06:59 AM

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Excellent link phixion.

Well worth reading - so pulled a few quotes:

2001: www.stopnato.org.uk...

... When much-belated and long-ignored evidence of the health crisis provoked by NATO's use of weapons containing depleted uranium and other, even more dangerous, fission process by-products and waste from uranium ore enrichment, in the Balkans began to surface late last year, the mass media in Europe was swept up by the furore that erupted among the population of those nations who had stationed troops in Kosovo and Bosnia.

Daily reports detailed leukemia and other cancer cases among hitherto healthy young soldiers from Portugal, Italy, Belgium and, soon, a dozen other countries.

... And as yesterday's local press reports, that the Bush administration is planning to severely cut back on an already inadequate budget for inspecting the Paducah, Kentucky plant that manufactures U.S. DU weapons found contaminated with plutonium,; as all this is known - and this is only the beginning - NATO's false assurance concerning the miraculous disappearance of leukemia and other fatal illnesses seems premature.

...In fact, to the extent that politically (and economically) motivated cover ups on this issue are relayed by major media outlets and are believed by those most affected by DU contamination, the assurances aren't so much premature as catastrophic. And as criminal as catastrophic.

DU at work in Iraq ten years later (WARNING: Extremely Disturbing)

JoeDoaks

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 07:14 AM

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Drinking urine? Depends on individual needs. During WW I a German officer in Africa with small groups of soldiers evaded vastly superior British numbers. One of the main survival techniques he taught his men was the use of two canteens- “one on the hip and the other in the belly..”

Von Lettow-Vorbeck
Colonel Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck (1870-1964) was remarkable among military commanders of the First World War in that he served for the entire period without ever having suffered defeat.

Answers.com
Lettow returned home in January 1919 to a hero's welcome and promotion to major general, the last edict of the Kaiser. He soon became a right wing extremist who participated in the chaotic politics of the Weimar Republic. Following strikes and arrests, he served in the Reichstag from 1929 to 1930. He fiercely opposed the Nazis, who upon inception of power made him work as a menial in Hamburg.

There are fairly extensive Internet sites relating to this remarkable man yet none (that I have found) give any depth into his guerrilla fighting techniques. He taught that the “belly canteen” was good for 5 good drinks (drainings). His men were taught to drink their own urine, as strained through cloth, up to 5 times before it became undrinkable.

Operating in many desert environments his troops could cover vast distances where no water resupply was to be had. The “belly canteen” gave his troops a decided edge over their opponents.
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sardion2000

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 08:16 AM

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He gives new meaning to the term "Self Sufficient"

UofCinLA

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 05:36 PM

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I think there is some info at the NASA sites. I thought it was actually a still. Both liquid and solid go in, liquid is boiled off and H2O condensed out, filtered and used again. Remaining solid waste is removed from device for disposal.

Needs energy source to work but there be oil there....

JoeDoaks

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 07:00 PM

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Not to be too curmudgeonly here, but how many people are theoretically going to use the Space Station at any one time?

Iraq needs desalinization facilities that can handle millions of gallons of water, not a multi-million dollar solar still. A little reality here. This NASA gizmo is 'pie in the sky' (literally).

From the article:

For $29,000 in equipment costs and less than three cents a gallon, a trailer-mounted recycling device can travel from village to village, turning a well's unclean water into something suitable for drinking. Larger, stationery systems equipped with packaging plants cost around $400,000.

I wish them well. I can't see this as viable. Many commercial systems exist. The NASA type system is a boondoggle.

Commercial systems:
www.ebigchina.com...

chemindustry.intota.com.../xml/biofull/605071data.xml&perID=107811&bioID=605071

Google for -large+industrial+water+treatment

Halliburton and the other re-builders already have the systems that will really be used. This other stuff is public relations propaganda.

This $29,000 system is going to drive itself and no one gets paid to operate it and pose for the photo ops?

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sardion2000

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 07:07 PM

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Umm seems pretty reasonable price to me... I fail to see your point... 3 cents a gallon is cheap. Desalination would be more expensive methinks...

R988

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 08:08 PM

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I read somewhere recently that the US Army is tryng to limit the amount of water soldier's have to carry by making them carry it 'inside' themselves as urine. Then using the purification stuff to make it drinkable.

Filters are OK, I use one on Tap water at home and it's noticably improved, but I doubt whether it stops everything. There are also water purification tablets or good old boiling your water

JoeDoaks

posted on Mar, 21 2005 @ 09:03 PM

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Originally posted by R988
I read somewhere recently that the US Army is tryng to limit the amount of water soldier's have to carry by making them carry it 'inside' themselves as urine. Then using the purification stuff to make it drinkable.

Filters are OK, I use one on Tap water at home and it's noticably improved, but I doubt whether it stops everything. There are also water purification tablets or good old boiling your water

'Bout time. Someone finally read Lettow-Vorbeck (see above link). Your own urine is good for up to five recycles without toxicity (misuse of term on my part). Now drinking someone else's- hmmm, I don't think so. Never been that thirsty.

Filter your own and let it aerate awhile. The 'purification' tablets do what for your own? Ruin the already bad taste?
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phixion

posted on Mar, 22 2005 @ 07:00 AM

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If you can drink your uring 5 times and it being beneficial then surely something is wrong, I've always presumed urine was the waste which our body doesn't want/need?

drogo

posted on Mar, 22 2005 @ 07:11 AM

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you can drink some of your urin. as for the 5 time rule makes sense to me. t is not good to do a lot but in an emergincy it has saved lives. yes you get rid of toxins in urin thats why it has limits ie: 5 times. urin is sterile when fresh but as i understand it it collects bacteria quickly.

when can we expect to be able to install this systom at home? all water tastes disgusting, ( i don't drink water at all). but i'd rather use pure water than what we currantly have for cooking and makeing stuff to drink. sometimes i'm not sure that even boiling tap water works.