Water scarcity already affects every continent. Around 1.2 billion people, or almost one-fifth of the world’s population, live in areas of physical scarcity, and 500 million people are approaching this situation. Another 1.6 billion people, or almost one quarter of the world’s population, face economic water shortage (where countries lack the necessary infrastructure to take water from rivers and aquifers).

Water scarcity is among the main problems to be faced by many societies and the World in the XXIst century. Water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century, and, although there is no global water scarcity as such, an increasing number of regions are chronically short of water.

Water scarcity is both a natural and a human-made phenomenon. There is enough freshwater on the planet for seven billion people but it is distributed unevenly and too much of it is wasted, polluted and unsustainably managed. Read more

Inspired by the water boatman bug, a team at the University of Bristol has created the Row-bot, a robot prototype that is designed to punt itself across the top of the water in dirty ponds or lakes, and “eat” the microbes it scoops up.

It then breaks these down in its artificial stomach to create energy to power itself. In this way, it generates enough power to continuously impel itself about to seek out more bacteria to feed upon.

The Row-bot consists of two main elements – a propulsion mechanism to move the Row-bot around using a paddle operated by a minuscule 0.75 Watt, brushed DC motor, and its “stomach,” where a microbial fuel cell (MFC) supplies the electric current to the motor powering the paddle. Read more

Products like the Grayl filtration cup and ÖKO Odyssey six-in-one bottle make treating water quite simple and intuitive. The Oasis water treatment system looks to add even more ease and versatility by bringing your filter of choice to your drinking vessel of choice – it filters out harmful bacteria and viruses or just bad taste from inside a water bottle, hydration pack and more.

There are hundreds of water filters designed for all sorts of activities,” says Renovo Water president Daniel Beck. “From hiking and backpacking, to hunting and survival, around town, in the home, or during an emergency, the one thing common amongst all these filters is they do primarily one thing, and that’s it. You likely have a wide scope of interests and activities, and you don’t do just one thing. So why do most water filters just do one thing?” Read more

Currently, when scientists want to know if bacteria are present in water, they have two main choices. They can take a sample to the lab, where they’ll try growing the suspected bacteria in it, and then count the number of resulting colonies to determine the concentration.

Or, they can analyze it using expensive lab-based gas chromatography or mass spectrometry equipment. Now, however, researchers from Seoul National University have developed a “bioelectronic nose” that could be used on location, and that is reportedly more sensitive than existing techniques. Read more

Currently, if you want to check water supplies for the presence of toxic bacteria, you have to take a water sample and then culture it in a lab over several days. In the meantime, it’s impossible to say if the water source is safe to use. A group of students from the Technical University of Denmark, however, have created a sensor that they say can detect bacteria in water instantly, on the spot.

Developed through spin-off company SBT Aqua, the sensor utilizes a technique known as impedance flow cytometry.

This involves running a liquid sample continuously through a microfluidic channel. Within that channel is a series of electrodes, to which a multi-voltage electrical signal is applied. As bacteria and other particles flow across those electrodes, they cause a change in impedance, which is detected by the sensor. Read more