By Stefano Dessena
HAF Intern
What can you do when one cannot count on the abundance of natural resources? You can count on the insights of creative people, and that is our case. This time one great idea can help a lot of people in need and can change their lives.
The access to clean water is an enormous problem to the 311 children who attend the school Zawiyat Sidi Boutayeb in Youssoufia province, where the parents association is facing a lot struggles to find a proper solution. It’s here that the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) is investing to create a genial solution, but more than anything else, an ecological solution: Hydro-Panels.
The “source” panels come from the Zero Mass Water company with the objective to develop a clean and eco-friendly way to access clean water everywhere, even in extreme conditions.
Hydro-Panels use the energy of the sun and the air to create clean and drinkable water even in the desert. The array includes two solar panels. They can produce five to ten liters of water daily and store almost 60 liters. Panels have a special absorbing material that can take only water particles, avoid airborne pollution, and then it can be mineralized with calcium and magnesium in a special storage. The structure does not need external electricity or water supply to work properly and can be mounted and be operative in a few hours, even in environmentally difficult areas.
But why is this an environmental and agricultural great choice? The answer is very easy. Try to imagine having a proper source of clean water in high mountains or even in an isolated valley but without the problems of a well (which is sometimes way too expensive to build and the water can be unclean). Further, the distance from the central water supply and the locations where people seek to drink and cultivate can be too distant. It’s wonderful, right? That’s what HAF has seen and what it is trying to do for the school in El Youssoufia. With this idea, all the students and their families will not have the problem of access to clean water and they will be able to cultivate and benefit from this great creation. The panels will work for decades, save water and help to improve the local economy.
All great ideas need supporters. In this regard, HAF is so very grateful to the American School of Marrakech and to Bruno Mejean for their contributions that have made this new project possible.