Solar Water Distillation – Nature’s Method of Water Purification

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Solar Water Distillation – Nature’s Method of Water Purification

by Reenita Malhotra in Drinking Water, Purification, Videos

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While many people stock expensive filtration equipment to filter their drinking water of impurities, it might come as a surprise to find that a lot of this can actually be done via the sun and its natural evaporation process.

photo by aussiegall

The sun natrually filters out many impurities from water

The sun is our planet’s natural filtration system. Solar rays distill impurities from water by evaporating it away from natural debris and then re-condensing the vapor into distilled water. Rain water, which is naturally distilled by the sun, is considered to be an extremely pure source of water. Alas, given our heavily polluted lifestyles, this is not necessarily the case any more. Polluted environments have increasingly large quantities of suspended dust particles and toxic debris. It is impossible for the sun to naturally filter out all impurities.

However, if you live in a relatively clean clean environment, then solar filtration might just be the answer to your needs. You can harvest rainwater not just for use in the garden, but possibly for use in the kitchen too.

The following video explains how you can build your own simple solar water distiller. Although, it might not be practical for everyone to do this, especially on a large scale, this simple experiment will help you understand in better detail, how nature filters water via evaporation.

Posted on Aug 07, 2009

Tags:

clean drinking water, harvest rainwater, Purification, solar water distillation, solar water distiller

About the Author

Reenita Malhotra

Reenita Malhotra Hora is an Ayurveda clinician and freelance writer. Native to Mumbai, she resides in San Francisco with her husband and two kids where she helps people to achieve their wellness goals. Reenita writes for a variety of sustainability media including Green Options, Green Living Ideas, National Geographic Kids, SustainLane and more. Check out her wisdom at www.reenita.com.

3 Responses to “Solar Water Distillation – Nature’s Method of Water Purification”

Compare Water Purifiers

Aug 07, 2009

Isn’t it too bad that even the sun which is our natural water purifier cannot keep us safe from our own contamination. Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where water purifiers weren’t necessary! ?

Thanks for the interesting article and video.
Water Purification Systems

Aug 19, 2009

Using the energy from the sun to generate electricity is, thankfully, getting a lot more press lately. But there are many other applications for solar power. One of the most important is for treating water.
Sun of the Sun

Oct 10, 2009

What a wonderful and informative video, something my daughter and I could experiment at home.