Well--how about a hand-pumped one? PUR has been making them for years and they do work. They have different sizes ranging from a few gallons per hour to several gallons per hour. The larger ones can be connected to a power source and I don't see why it couldn't be solar.

Hand pumping is interesting. I am looking for solar solutions, the simpler the better. Aim being to free up workers' labor, not find more/other ways to occupy it. Solar distillation for example would enable the sun to do the work of "making" sweet water...

Here is the best I've found so far but still seems too sophisticated for a scalable, low-tech gardening program:

Well--your and my idea about "freeing" up the worker's labor may mean that the worker doesn't have labor to perform...this is a sort of top down perspective in a lot of countries.

I recall when I first traveled back to Vietnam in early 1989 I think it was, and I was visiting this Korean company. They had some Vietnamese people cutting the grass at the front of the compound. I have cut the grass and you have too in all likelihood...so...what is the point here?

Well, the people cutting the grass were doing so with scissors!

The real key in this search is potable water...I would believe and respectfully suggest.

Lars--thanks for the link!

This guy is brilliant--at least in theory. I tried to find out where it has gone in terms of development and found that the World Bank gave him a grant to build his pilot-- http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/ EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/ECAEXT/0,,con tentMDK:20947462~menuPK:258613~p agePK:2865106~piPK:2865128~theSi tePK:258599,00.html

But couldn't find out if it has been built. If this works the way he describes then it means that even the most polluted water can be easily cleaned...I would think that it would even apply to taking out heavy metal contamination!

Brian wrote:

Well--your and my idea about "freeing" up the worker's labor may mean that the worker doesn't have labor to perform...this is a sort of top down perspective in a lot of countries.

Perhaps - I just don't want to arbitrarily "invent" new work, like pumping desalination pumps. Hopefully, in finding a cheap and plentiful source for irrigation of urban gardens, what is presently a small-scale "indigenous" practice with numerous benefits can be scaled.

I am not seeking a solution to potable water in the main: I am seeking a source of water that can be used for irrigation in coastal areas.

Developing a source of potable water is also an important problem; it doesn't happen to be the one I am exploring here though there are likely natural correspondences ie one "solution" may have additional benefits.

ps - glad you watched the video. there are other cool ones at the development marketplace :)

Hi Lars,

A group of physicists in Australia have invented a portable solar water purifier which can also desalinate. The physicists invented this machine purely to help humanity - not for financial gain. They have had the device thoroughly and scientifically tested and Rotary now sends these to underpriviged communities all over the world. The link is:http://www.solarwaterpurifier.com/ Here you can find information about the product and its specifications.

Hope this is helpful.

Karen. AlterQuest Organization.

that's brilliant - thank you karen! i will pass this information along. are there "plans" available for this unit so it could be built as well as shipped? i am also curious to seek and alternative to the groundwater pump - perhaps that would be a manual process, accessing the saltwater...?

ccc