Tuesday, November 1, 2011
http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/water-canary-pinpoints-water-problems-using-gps-and-crowd-sourcing.html?campaign=th_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+treehuggersite+%28Treehugger%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
"Water Canary" Pinpoints Water Problems Using GPS and Crowd-Sourcing written by Jaymi Heimbuch from Clean Technology. July 14, 2011.
Summary: The "Water Canary" is a device used to identify clean, or dirty, water. This is a low budget device designed for people to know the quality of water they're drinking. Also, the Water Canary has a GPS which tracks the source of the water. Although it will help communities not drink contaminated water, it is mostly designed to get an accurate reading on which water sources need help the most. It says the device takes little to no training and no education to understand and use. This device could easily help many lives and rivers if used properly in the next few years.
Opinion/Reflection: I think the "Water Canary" was a great invention and it will help so many people. When communities with a lack of clean water are able to test their sources and realize their water isnt clean, it will help them so much. Also, this device will help locate dirty/contaminated water sources so they can be cleaned in the near future. This low-cost invention is such a helpful way to protect the water in the environment, and people's health.
Questions:
1. Once a reading is done and the water source proves contaminated what will be done to clean the water?
2. How will these devices be distributed?
3. How are the results shown? (Does it list contaminents or say how contaminated the water is?)
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I feel that this is a good step in the direction to keeping water clean. In response to answering Cait's question, I think that the results would list the contaminants because we have pH paper to see how contaminated the water is. In my opinion, it would just be unrational to have an invention, just more complex of something we already have that is easy to use and simple.
ReplyDeleteQuestions :
1)How much does this cost? And will it be a reasonable price so EVERYONE can afford it or just those with more money?
2) If people test their water and see that it's not clean, do you think they will do something about it to make it clean or just let it go because they don't know the risks of dirty water and just don't care?
3)Is this device applicable for small children starting from kindergarten and they would understand how to use it and what everything means or is this device meant for older people?
4)Could people at home use this device to check to see if their tap water is contaminated? And is it accurate enough that if the water is contaminated, they could take it to the local water supply and explain to them their water is contaminated and could fix it.
1) If people know the quality of their drinking water will it actually make a difference? In 3rd world countries they don't have much drinking water to begin with so I don't believe they will care about the quality of it.
ReplyDelete2) If it is found that there is poor drinking water will any other countries step in to help with getting them clean drinking water?
3) Who's responsibility is it to get them clean drinking water? Which country should step in and help?
4) How would finding out you have poor drinking water affect the rest of the world?
This obviously, if as simple to use as they say it is, could turn out to be a very helpful inventions and could even save lives. If people are drinking contaminated water it could lead to diseases and what not but now they know whether or not the water that they are drinking is clean or dirty. This is a good start to helping other countries water problems. We need to build off this. When we watched Jay-Z install a toilet in the school in class a few days ago it was crazy how excited and thankful the kids were for something we use every day of our lives whenever we want. I hope this invention got the same reaction, because it really is useful and helpful.
ReplyDeleteQuestions
1. Are their any other inventions on the way to help these other countries and their water problems.
2. With a GPS as a part of this device can it really be that low budget? How affordable is it?
3. How does the GPS on this device work, doesn't it need electricity?
I feel skeptical here; this device seems to have some flaws. I'm questioning the usefulness of this device. Once water is identified as being dirty, it can't clean the water, it just identifies it. The water is still undrinkable. I see that it can prevent people from drinking dirty, potentially harmful water, but isn't most water in third world countries dirty? If the device ranks how dirty the water it is then I could see some use because people could drink the least dirty water, but otherwise it seems pointless.
ReplyDeleteTo answer Luke's 2nd question, the article states that it costs $100 - $200 to build, which is pretty expensive. Also to answer his 3rd question, I think the device probably does require electricity; it is never suggested that it doesn't.