January 24, 2020
Today, water scarcity, coupled with climate change, is shaping up to be an irreversible problem. According to UN figures , by 2050 global demand for this resource will increase by 20% to 30%, mainly due to domestic and industrial use. However, alternatives exist to meet this demand. In Chile, this problem has been discussed for over 10 years, and governments have tried unsuccessfully to halt the progression of the drought's effects. It wasn't until 2019 that President Piñera declared a state of emergency in the Valparaíso region, one of the hardest hit by this situation.
Faced with this problem, Pablo Cassorla , an engineer from Columbia University, began to think about solutions, or at least a more sustainable way to access water. This is how Remote Waters emerged , a venture that seeks to desalinate seawater using renewable energy , in this case, solar power. Remote Waters formally began in 2018. That year, the project received seed capital funding from Corfo (Chilean Economic Development Agency), and in 2019, it won the Huella program from Start-Up Chile. “We realized that the people who have the most problems with water are those in rural areas,” she explains.
Finally, in 2019, Cassorla completed the first desalination plant, which now operates in Algarrobo and produces about 1,000 liters per hour, enough to supply approximately 20 homes . “When people come to visit us, we give them samples of the water because they need to see the project and understand how it works. That's why we conduct tests and trials beforehand, to break down that initial barrier of trust ,” she says. The desalination plant, located in the Valparaíso region, extracts groundwater with a high salt content, which then enters a tank where the desalination process begins. Next, the water passes through a pre-filtration process, mediated by a high-pressure pump that pushes it through reverse osmosis filtration membranes . These membranes purify the water and remove the salt. Currently, they have several projects underway, one of the main ones being with the ecological community of Tunquén . “In that area, some places are drying up. They are near the sea and have no electricity; their only alternative is to get water from tanker trucks, but their wells are also in trouble,” he explains. Similarly, they are working with communities near La Ligua , as well as other locations in Tocopilla.
“As a private household, you can request this system, but we also aim for an entire community to be able to use it, and in that process, a municipality must be involved ,” he explains. Cassorla comments that needs vary everywhere, which is why “if someone requires two cubic meters of water, or 100 times that amount, we can redesign the system and tailor it to their needs.” Regarding climate change, the entrepreneur views the current situation with concern, but believes that adaptation is the solution. “There’s no going back,” he says, adding: “While there are cycles of more or less rain, the trend and scientific data show that we are heading toward a decrease, and continuing with the practice of deepening wells or installing more pumps is not sustainable . ” This process could reach remote communities and is presented as an alternative with the potential to be implemented on a larger scale, which would generate greater development opportunities for those who currently have difficulty accessing this resource. “What people see is not the desalination process, but rather turning on the tap and getting water; that security is priceless because it is linked to economic security, because it is not only for drinking and surviving, it is also for giving to the animals, to set up a business ,” he says.