AUTHOR: India Sparks
Since the start of time, water has been one of the most valued resources of humanity. Early humans settled their civilizations along rivers, oceans, and other bodies of water for fertile soil and access to water. Today, humans use water for drinking, hygiene, botany, cooking, and much more.
However, 1.1 billion people around the world lack access to water, making them part of the billions of people globally affected by water scarcity. Water scarcity occurs when water is unavailable, unsafe, or unaffordable. To combat the growing population affected by the water crisis, scientists around the world are developing new technologies to bring water to affected areas. These technologies include water purification tablets, environmental protection efforts, and the Cycleau and HurRain purification systems.
As the water crisis intensifies, solutions are evolving with ideas varying from short term to long term solutions. A short term solution to areas experiencing water scarcity would be water purification tablets. Water purification tablets are typically small tablets that, when placed into water, triggers a chemical reaction. Many brands, including Aquatab, use a chemical called sodium dichloroisocyanurate. Sodium dichloroisocyanurate, or NaDCC, is a chemical similar to chlorine, the chemical used to purify pool water. Specifically, it is a sodium salt form of chlorinated hydroxytriazine. NaDCC is typically a white power and semi-granular texture (WHO, n.d.) that is then compressed into tablet that adds about 1mg/L to create safe drinking water. Water purification tablets often take around 30 minutes before the water is considered safe to drink, making them a quick and accessible solution for areas affected by water scarcity. For example, Aquatab tablets were distributed to communities in Vietnam after Typhoon Yagi.
The HurRain purification system, developed by scientists at Tsinghua University, is designed to pull water from the airflow, and into a basin for later collection and drinking. Scientists at the university studied many desert creatures that have adapted to survive in the arid and hot conditions of desert regions to see, in depth, how those animals, plants, and insects obtain and store water. Cacti absorb water through specialized cells that act similarly to that of a sponge, and can store this water for many months. The water storage of the HurRain technology mimics this trait seen in cacti. The way that the HurRain pulls water seemingly from nowhere is very similar to the water collecting technique of the Thorny Devil, a lizard native to Australia. The thorny devil contains many small channels running across the surface that collects the little moisture and water from the air around them and then runs that water through the canals to the mouth of the lizard. These two ideas are what allow regions that may not receive water during certain seasons to keep water for drinking to last them for the duration of the dry season.
While lack of water is a major component of water scarcity, contaminated and unsafe water are other major components of water scarcity. This is why the Cycleau technology was developed. According to UNICEF, Cycleau was designed to purify this unsafe water as an intermediate-term solution – longer-lasting than the emergency solutions such as water trucks and purification tablets but still practical while long term solutions are being implemented. Cycleau attaches to water pipes (e.g., below a sink or attached to a shower), and goes through four stages of treatment to decontaminate the water. Due to the easy use and accessibility, Cycleau can bring down a buildings water usage footprint by approximately 80%, thereby bringing down the building energy footprint from water based facilities.
These 3 solutions – HurRain, Cycleau, and water purification tablets– offer short-term, middle term, and early long-term responses to the ever growing water crisis happening to billions of people today. However, as the number of people impacted by the water dilemma grows, solutions must also continue to evolve and work on a larger scale, making long-term solutions increasingly complex to develop. Still, many technologies, including HurRain, Cycleau, and purification tablets, act as a starting point to finding a solution to the water crisis, especially as many people around the world are also working to reduce their own water usage footprint through small actions –such as fixing leaks, turning of the water whilst brushing their teeth, and many more.
References
Andres, A. (2025, February 2). The magic of water purification tablets. UNICEF Australia. https://www.unicef.org.au/stories/water-purification-tablets?srsltid=AfmBOorKjEvDP4Ll5yegrgti81ILUxXpYft2tYDGW4fxCYuiHLSYNv8B
Brusowankin, A. (2022). The secrets of the cacti. In PBS. https://www.pbs.org/articles/the-secrets-of-the-cacti
Haziqah, M., & MAT DAUD, A. M. (2022). A study on effectiveness of Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate (NaDCC) as surface water purifier: Aquatab tablet. Recent Trends in Civil Engineering and Built Environment, 3(1), 1918–1927. https://periodical.uthm.edu.my/index.php/rtcebe/article/view/3036
Water scarcity. (2025). In World Wildlife Fund. https://www.worldwildlife.org/our-work/freshwater/water-scarcity/
WHO. (n.d.). Chemical Fact Sheets. Https://Www.Who.Int/Docs/Default-Source/Wash-Documents/Wash-Chemicals/Sodium-Dichloroisocyanurate-Chemical-Fact-Sheet.Pdf?Sfvrsn=9933313F_4.
Young innovators design solutions to water scarcity. (2024). In Unicef.org. https://www.unicef.org/eca/stories/young-innovators-design-solutions-water-scarcity
About Author
