Bloggen voor IWD TEDxAmsterdam - The rush of water

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Voor TEDxAmsterdam Ideas Worth doing schrijf ik sinds augustus 2011 maandelijks een blog. Mijn eerste blog op deze site wilde ik ook op mijn eigen blog vermelden.
Veel leesplezier!
Linnie G.

The Rush of Water

While growing up in Holland the omnipresent rush of water is nothing to be astonished about. However, in most parts of the world – like in Somaliland – water, H2O, seems more and more a myth. The founders of The Winddrinker want to put this to an end. Sjoerd Dijkstra, a Dutchman, is one of them. “Our aim is to make clean drinking water affordable for the poor.”

Dijkstra says: “The Winddrinker turns salt water into clean drinking water, and only by using wind energy. In dry coastal areas of developing countries or in countries where people do not have access to clean water, this could be the solution.”

The Winddrinker combines a windmill and a desalination pump in the most efficient way. A mechanical coupling ensures a cheap, simple and reliable technology. This technology has been developed by researchers of the Delft University of Technology in Holland. Dijkstra: “The prototype that will arise in Somaliland will produce an average of 25.000 liters healthy drink water per day for at least 5.000 local people.”

Never a dull moment
“We always include local people to start The Winddrinker project up”, according to Dijkstra. He truly believes that when “we are all in this together, we all benefit from it”.

So locals and NGO’s worked together with the Dutch team. They built a wall of 300 meters which will surround The Winddrinker. “Bricks are hand made by local people. These bricks dry in the sun. You can imagine, it takes a while to build this wall.”

They evenly finished with the construction of a water well, by using water pressure to dig the hole.

Despite of all the effort lately Dijkstra’s team was suddenly faced with a problem. One of the non plastered walls came down. He comments: “Indeed, never a dull moment.” They are solving this problem.

The rush of water
Although Dijkstra’s team was faced with one collapsing wall, there still is progress. Dijkstra smiles. “We are really happy about this: Malao waters’ well is working…”


“Isn’t it fantastic?!”
We can only nod our heads. In an undeveloped country like Somaliland, The Winddrinker makes a difference. This is fantastic, since it is the beginning of the rush of water. Hopefully the omnipresent rush of water, worldwide.

Linda Graanoogst - Published on TedxAmsterdam august 2011

http://www.tedxamsterdam.com/2011/ideas-worth-doing-the-rush-of-water/