Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler have been making the case for Abundance for some time now.

Whether you are skeptical or not, the evidence is piling up.

One great example I came across today is the Chilean Water Plasma Purifier. (A few days ago I covered another example in Making Water Out of Air)

The Water Plasma Purifier is documented by the two videos below. What is unique about this inventive gadget is not that it cleans water, but that it does it with the right combination of low cost, high energy efficiency, small size, low maintenance and high output.

As Vivek Wadhwa notes in his Washington Post article: “If the system can be mass produced for less than $100, as Zolezzi believes, and the output passes the lab tests to which it is being subjected, it has the potential to provide clean, safe water to billions in the developing world.”

The Waters Plasma Purifier on Reuters News:

A cost and energy efficient water purifying system being used in a Chilean camp could one day provide safe drinking water for millions of people in the developing world. Created by Chilean scientists, the system cleans contaminated water by blasting it with ionized particles making it safe to drink. Ben Gruber reports.

Video Transcript:

Rosa Reyes lives in San Jose de Cerrillos, a small camp on the outskirts of Chile’s capitol, Santiago. She says for years the people inhabiting this camp have suffered from diseases due to the poor quality of their drinking water. But now, thanks to a new inexpensive water purification system developed by scientists at the Chilean Advanced Innovation Centre, Reyes says she and her neighbours are no longer suffering.

(Soundbite) (Spanish) Rosa Reyes, Resident of San Jose de Cerrillos Camp, saying:

“It is cleaner. Our kids aren’t sick, it is easier for the elderly that [otherwise] have to boil their water.”

The system works by compressing contaminated water and then feeding it into a chamber where a quick change in pressure and exposure to an electrical field converts it into plasma, a state of matter similar to gas. In a plasma state, the water is ionized – killing 100 percent of bacteria and microbes it carried. According to Alfredo Zolezzi, a scientist at the Centre, the system can purify 35 litres of water in just five minutes – using the same amount of energy that it takes to run a light bulb. Zolezzi says since it was installed in September the results have been remarkable.

(Soundbite) (Spanish) Chief Innovation Officer of the Vina Del Mar Chilean Advanced Innovation Centre, Alfredo Zolezzi, saying:

“It went better than we had anticipated. Not only did the people have water – which one would imagine is a basic right and necessity – what it really affected was these peoples dignity, the ability to feel that they have water available and can live like a normal person.”

Julian Ugarte helped develop the system. He says one its greatest benefits is its low cost, making it a sustainable solution for millions of people now living in poverty.

(Soundbite) (Spanish) Director of the Centre of Innovation De Un Techo Para Chile, Julian Ugarte, saying:

“We need new ideas, not obsolete ideas. The technology could have a tremendous impact on 63 percent of the world that makes less than $1,500 dollars a year that nobody considers – which is also the largest market in the world. So, you can also get business, though per person it might not be so useful, but could be at mass. And this opens the possibility, not only in this centre, but for everyone who can generate a successful enterprise and solve problems facing the poorest populations.”

The United Nations estimates that one in six people have inadequate access to safe drinking water. Ugarte hopes their plasma purifier could dramatically reduce that number. Rosa Reyes says she prays that the benefits of the purification system will extend far beyond her small camp.

(Soundbite) (Spanish) Rosa Reyes, Resident of San Jose de Cerrillos Camp, saying:

“I hope in Africa they get the same great privilege we’ve had and get purifiers just like us.”

The developers of the system hope to answer Rosa Reyes’ prayers. They are currently working on a second prototype that will hopefully reduce the cost of water purification even further – making clean water for the planets poorest – a reality.

Original story by Ben Gruber, Reuters.

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