Bill Gates can do no wrong. Although he has not yet configured a way to turn water into wine, he has discovered how to take feces and transform it into a refreshing glass of water.
I remember when my junior high was taking donations for LifeStraws, which helped school children drink clean water in developing countries, and I’m glad there has been progress with similar projects through the Gates Foundation.
The Gates Foundation supports a multitude of causes, one being improved sanitation in developing countries. The latest project, the Omniprocessor, was designed and built by Janicki Bioenergy, an engineering firm located just north of Seattle, Washington.
Gates recently studied the mechanics behind the Omniprocessor before initiating the pilot project, which is set to begin in Dakar, Senegal later in 2015.
As explained in Gates’s blog, the Omniprocessor is a safe repository for human waste and runs at such high temperatures that there are no nauseating smells. Additionally, it meets all the emission standards set by the U.S. government.
Gates claims that more than 2.5 billion people around the world do not have access to safe sanitation, and diseases caused by poor sanitation kill about 700,000 children every year in addition to preventing even more children from developing fully both mentally and physically.
The problem with developing countries is their inability to provide modern infrastructure of sewer lines that would be practical on a large scale. As a result, those communities are forced to dump the waste in the nearest river or ocean, only to have it infiltrate their water supply.
Another obstacle developing countries encounter is the massive amounts of energy required by any common sewage plant. The Omniprocessor solves that problem by not only powering itself, but by producing more than enough energy to burn the next batch of waste through the nifty use of a steam engine.
“I actually would try the water myself,” freshman health science major Meghan Taylor said. “[I think] it’s a great step to safer water in Third World countries.”
Although more hesitant, even a germaphobe would be willing to drink the poo water.
“I would be more likely to drink the water if the prototypes are proven successful and if I extensively researched and became more well-versed on the process,” junior health science major Kayla Skinner said. “There are so many risks and diseases associated with a hazardous water supply, and I’m glad the opportunity to do something about it is finally in the works.”
The next generation Omniprocessor is already in the process of being developed and it will be capable of handling waste from 100,000 people and yielding up to 86,000 liters of potable water a day, as well as an additional 250 kilowatts of electricity.
It almost seems like magic. This processor takes your daily dump and saves lives by creating safe drinking water and delivering electricity produced by the generator to the local community.
Perhaps in the near future, even Western countries will incorporate the science behind the revolutionary Omniprocessor as a more sustainable way to manage our sewage. It may be time to say “deuces,” to your go-to water brand, because Ice Mountain has nothing on your friends poop turned to water.
