肯尼亚安装了第一座将海水转化为饮用水的太阳能发电厂

肯尼亚安装了第一座将海水转化为饮用水的太阳能发电厂

While most of us, who also have the privilege of using the Internet on a daily basis and therefore are able to read this, don’t have any problems getting fresh drinking water, that’s not the case for everyone. Around 2.2 billion people struggle because they don’t have safe access to drinking water which could seem pretty ironic considering we live on a planet that is 2/3 water. But no need for those long faces as there might be a solution to this problem. Recently, the NGO Give Power installed a solar-powered plant that transforms salty ocean water into fresh drinking water and thus helps 25,000 people a day!

虽然我们大多数人，也有每天使用互联网的特权，因此能够阅读这篇文章，得到新鲜的饮用水也没有任何问题，但并不是每个人都这样。大约有22亿人因为没有安全的饮用水而挣扎，考虑到我们生活的星球上有2/3的水，这似乎很讽刺。但是没有必要拉长脸，因为这个问题可能有解决的办法。最近，非政府组织Give Power兴建了一个太阳能发电厂，将咸水转化为淡水，这样每天就可以帮助25,000人!

The NGO, Give Power, conducted their first solar-powered water transforming plant test early in August this year

今年8月初，非政府组织Give Power进行了他们第一个太阳能水转化工厂的测试

Even though this is not their first similar project, Give Power recently had huge success in installing a new plant that transforms saline water into drinking water in Kiunga, a small town in Kenya and even had its pilot test in August which has already improved the lives of residents of the town. The organization doesn’t plan to stop there and wants to use the technology in other parts of the world.

尽管这不是他们的第一个类似的项目,GivePower最近取得了巨大的成功，在肯尼亚的一个小镇Kiunga建起了一座新的工厂，将盐水转化为饮用水，并在8月份进行了试点试验，改善了镇上居民的生活。该组织并不打算就此止步，而是希望在世界其他地方使用这项技术。

The two water pumps of the plant were able to provide drinking water for 25,000 people

工厂的两个水泵可以为25,000人提供饮用水

Even though it’s commonly thought that 1/3 of people don’t have access to drinking water, the problem is much bigger in some regions, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, the Kenyan town of Kiunga was chosen for the installment of this plant specifically to tackle this problem and help as many people as possible. After this success, the organization is already planning similar projects in Colombia and Haiti.

尽管人们普遍认为三分之一的人没有饮用水，但在一些地区，这个问题要严重得多，尤其是在撒哈拉以南的非洲地区。因此，肯尼亚的Kiunga镇被选为这个工厂的兴建地，专门用来解决这个问题，并帮助尽可能多的人。在这一成功之后，本组织已经在哥伦比亚和海地规划类似的项目。

They actually have the capacity to provide even more and supply 35,000 people with drinking water 24 hours a day

他们实际上有能力提供更多的水，一天24小时为35000人提供饮用水

The desalination process that’s crucial in turning salt water into drinking water is very power-consuming and therefore expensive. Therefore, using solar energy might be a very good long-term solution. Give Power installed what they call “a solar water farm” in Kiunga that harvests solar energy using solar panels. They are able to produce 50 kilowatts of energy and power 2 water pumps 24 hours a day.

在将盐水转化为饮用水的过程中，至关重要的海水淡化过程非常耗电，因此非常昂贵。因此，使用太阳能可能是一个很好的长期解决方案。Give Power在Kiunga兴建了他们所谓的“太阳能水农场”，利用太阳能电池板收集太阳能。他们能够24小时生产50千瓦的能源和动力2个水泵。

This is life changing for regions such as Kenya, where more than 1/3 of the people don’t have access to safe drinking water

这改变了肯尼亚等地区的生活，那里超过三分之一的人无法获得安全的饮用水

Before the installment of this technology, people sometimes had to travel for more than an hour just to get some drinking water for themselves and their families. Since every drop of fresh water was so precious, they would usually bathe and wash their clothes in dirty salt water which is very harsh on the skin.

在这项技术普及之前，人们有时不得不旅行一个多小时来为自己和家人取得饮用水。由于每一滴淡水都是如此珍贵，他们通常会在肮脏的盐水中洗澡和洗衣服，这对皮肤来说是非常难受的。

And have to travel for more than an hour to get drinking water for their families

为了给家人弄到饮用水，他们不得不奔波一个多小时

Hayes Barnard, president of GivePower, said, “You see children inside of these villages, and they’ve got these scars on their stomachs or their knees because they got so much salt in their wounds. They were basically poisoning their families with this water.” But the installment of the plant did not only help them with that but also saved them from various diseases, since the water they earlier commonly used was often full of pollutants and various parasites. What a huge step for humanity!

GivePower的总裁海斯·巴纳德说:“你看到这些村庄里的孩子，他们的胃和膝盖上有这些伤疤，因为他们的伤口里有太多的盐。他们用这些水毒害了他们的家人。但是，工厂的兴建不仅帮助他们解决了这个问题，而且还使他们免于各种疾病，因为他们以前经常使用的水往往充满了污染物和各种寄生虫。这对人类来说是多么大的一步啊!

More info: Give Power

Image credits: GivePower