World Water Day was March 22. Let's be honest, you have never suffered a day of extreme thirst. The kind that drives you mad. Even Christ couldn't stand it. The only words of physical complaint that He uttered on the cross were, "I thirst".
Millions of people have a daily struggle with gaining access to clean, safe water. Not just safe in that the water's potable (not salinated or polluted), but safe in that they won't get raped on their way to the source. Or caught in the crossfire of warring factions (see Darfur and Rwanda).
There are a lot of ways to suffer on this planet, but the ways are not infinite. Someone has come along and invented something to help shorten the list. - A.T.
Dean Kamen's Slingshot Aims To Bring Fresh Water To The World
Posted on Slate: 03/25/2013
Photo from the film Slingshot by Paul Lazarus
A recent invention called the Slingshot could provide freshwater to those with some of the most limited access. Inventor Dean Kamen, best known as the man behind the Segway, has partnered with Coca-Cola to place his machines throughout developing nations in Africa and Central America in hopes of eliminating the millions of deaths each year related to waterborne disease.
More than 783 million people don't have access to clean water and 37 percent don't have access to sanitation facilities, facts highlighted by the UN during World Water Day last week.
The device can take any form of potentially contaminated liquid and distill it into something safe to drink -- by evaporating the water and then condensing the steam, leaving pathogens behind. Kamen even joked in a 2008 interview with Steven Colbert that the Slingshot could sanitize a 50-gallon drum of urine.
A recent documentary short directed by Paul Lazarus and featuring Kamen won third place in GE's Focus Forward Film Festival, which highlights leading innovators around the world. The film was also screened at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
Watch the 3 minute documentary here: http://focusforwardfilms.com/contest/16/slingshot-paul-lazarus
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