World’s water crisis under the spotlight at the Science Museum
22 September 2011
A new exhibition at the Science Museum looks at creative ideas engineers have developed to help secure water and beat a global food crisis including bug batteries, cloud catchers and seawater greenhouses. Told through a mixture of objects, case studies, video, interactives and animation the new exhibition, Water Wars: fight the food crisis, which opened last week, highlights how much more fresh water is urgently needed to grow food to feed the world’s rapidly growing population.
Photograph courtesy of the Science Museum, London
Water Wars: fight the food crisis will look at five innovative projects that engineers are working on to access more water to grow food in different parts of the world including the UK. Among these are:
• The first bacteria powered fuel cell that removes salt from sea water.
• Groasis Waterboxx – a stunningly simple yet affordable innovation for individual farmers. Inspired by bird droppings, it nurtures saplings until their roots reach soil water in the same way that droppings offer seeds a moist, environment.
• Cypriot engineers are designing the first concentrated solar power station that will evaporate fresh water from seawater.
• Catch fog and explore the next generation of fog catchers inspired by a tiny Namibian desert beetle.
• British innovation that could soon transform the Sahara - the Seawater Greenhouse. This greenhouse uses nothing more that the power of the wind and Sun to evaporate fresh water from seawater.
This free exhibition will run for nine months in the Antenna gallery. Click here for more information.
Illustrated here is an example of a microbial fuel cell (photograph courtesy of the Science Museum, London) which forms part of the Water Wars exhibition .
For more information about the 'Bug Battery' click here.