A young architect uses a high-tech material to solve a chronic problem: the transportation of clean water.

By Kristin Palm, Metropolis Magazine Posted May 22, 2008

As an elementary school student in Las Vegas, Eric Olsen rou­tinely reviewed the basics of desert survival: First, always carry water. Second, bring along a few rudimentary objects such as plastic sheeting and a small cup. Third, should you find yourself without hydration, dig a pit in the sand, fill it with cactus, place the cup in the pit, cover the pit with the plastic, top it off with a rock, and wait (and wait) for condensation to drip down. Though Olsen tried this procedure in his backyard without success, the San Francisco-based architect learned an indelible lesson: "Water, even when I was a kid, and more so now, was part of the ethic of how we lived in Las Vegas. We knew it was finite."

Which makes it especially fitting that Olsen is the winner of this year's Metropolis Next Generation Design Competition on the theme of water. Guidelines for addressing this theme were broad--entrants were asked to consider uses, reuses, controls, management, efficiency, and conservation.

Olsen's design is called the Solar Water Disinfecting Tar­paulin, a flexible, adaptable vessel to render it simpler and more effective for both carrying water and making it safe to drink. Next Generation runners-up include a housing project powered by rain­water, a synthetic ice floe for use by endangered animals, a solar- and wind-powered aquaponic food-growing system, a water-­purification system using seeds from the moringa tree, and a thermally conductive water condenser.

Olsen's pleated tarpaulin, constructed from clear laser-cut LDPE and reflective rubberized nylon, is designed to hold up to 20 liters of water (it contains an integrated filling tube) and can be rolled into a bundle or worn as a shawl-like kanga for carrying. It can be laid across a rooftop, spread on the ground, or hung vertically to allow passive solar heat and ultraviolet radiation to disinfect the water (a World Health Organization-approved purification method that takes only five hours).

The tarpaulin is designed for use in a wide variety of settings--from urban disaster sites to remote villages in the Third World. "You can imagine that in post-Katrina New Orleans something like this would have been useful as an alternative to the energy required to transport clean water to some other site," Olsen says. "It's really applicable anywhere there isn't a functioning water infrastructure. Whatever your situation is, ideally it can be incorporated into it."

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This is some of the best in innovation and ideation!! WOW!!