Water is an ever so scarce resource that we ought to conserve and save with all our might and main. This was exactly the motivation of Pratik Ghosh, a graduate student from the Royal College of Art (RCA). Ghosh has designed a contraption called Drop by Drop, which is a plant-based water filtration system that offers a truly green and sustainable method of obtaining water clean enough to be used as home cleansing wastewater and growing herbs.
Drop by Drop uses transpiration processes similar to the ones in the Amazon rain forest and utilizes a mini biosphere system that keeps humidity, light, heat, and wind at optimal levels to facilitate the transpiration process.
“The moisture-laden air is strategically pulled out of the system and condensed to form pure distilled water,” Ghosh said on his website.
Drop by Drop uses a glass dome to cover the plant with the gray water added to the system via pipes. The purification is done by the plant using sunlight and photosynthesis, with the water vapor released by the plant that can be condensed to become distilled water. A pump is used to control airflow to speed up the process, and the required salts can be added to the distilled water to make it fit for drinking.
The system doesn’t require a lot of micromanaging and becomes a self-sustaining biosphere after pipes are sealed. Thanks to microbes in the soil and insects that provide CO2 while the system emits oxygen into the surrounding air.
The prototype takes 12 hours to create one glass of water, but the system can be scaled up to cover a typical home rooftop that could filter around 42 gallons in 12 hours.
Ghosh told Dezeen,
“The idea is to change the way we procure and consume water at a larger level. In order to do that, there needs to be a change in the value system and what better place to start than the home? One can pour dirty water collected from the kitchen or even the bathroom into the system and the plants help you filter it.”
Watch Drop by Drop in action in the video below!
Isn’t that the cool way to filter water? What do you think about this system? Share with us in the comments section below.