The University of Johannesburg’s Process, Energy and Environmental Technology Station (UJ PEETS) launched the Eastern Cape Water Provision Project, with UJ’s Faculty of Health Science Water and Health Research Centre.
The project uses hydropanels, developed by SOURCE Global, a US-based company.
Hydropanels create drinking water using only sunlight and air and also purify and treat the water so that it is immediately safe to drink.
“You can literally open a tap attached to the panel and water comes out” said Dr Kousar Hoorzook, UJ PEETS’ Programme Manager for Water Quality and Management.
Dr Hoorzook also said the Water Provision Project aimed to improve access to quality water in selected villages in the Eastern Cape.
“We did this by installing advanced hydropanels that are capable of harvesting clean water from atmospheric vapour and providing it directly into the hands of community members.”
In deciding where this groundbreaking project would be rolled out, the PEETS team looked for remote and isolated villages that had no reticulated water supply. The villages also had to be small enough for every household to receive two panels, since only a limited number were available at the time.
The villages of Luphoko and Lujazu in the OR Tambo District were ultimately selected, as were two primary and high schools in Mthambalala and Cutwini.
By installing panels at the schools, the project ensured that learners had access to water both at home and during their school day and made additional water available to villagers.
“Before the project came into being, residents, typically women and children, would walk to rivers several kilometres away multiple times a day. They also harvested rain water, which wasn’t treated and put people at risk of contracting water-borne diseases. Since the villages are located in mountain areas and don’t have access to electricity, the installation of boreholes has never been an option” said Hoorzook.
Training sessions to equip communities followed installation, with a focus on how hydropanels work, how to take care of them and how to collect and store the water the hydropanels produce.
“There are several different types of technology that involve extracting moisture from air to produce potable water” said Dr Hoorzook.
“But the technology we chose to deploy is one of the first built within a solar panel. This made it ideally suited to our villages, which required a totally off-grid solution.”
Picture: UJ PEETS