Deadline extended for Water Abundance XPRIZE

In the lead-up to World Water Day (22 March), Tata Group, Australian Aid and XPRIZE are encouraging Australian innovators to enter the Water Abundance XPRIZE — a US$1.75 million global competition to harvest fresh water from the atmosphere.

Aimed at sparking a solution to the global water shortage, the competition calls on teams from around the world to create a device that extracts a minimum of 2000 L of water per day from the atmosphere using 100% renewable energy, at a cost of no more than 2 c/L. The goal is to create decentralised access to water, giving people the power to access fresh water whenever and wherever they need it.

“With two-thirds of the global population living under water-stressed conditions, there’s never been a more crucial time to not only rethink our methods of water consumption but reinvent them,” said Zenia Tata, XPRIZE’s executive director of global expansion. “Australians and those in Asia–Pacific have battled against the climatic elements since the beginning of time, and we believe there are few other countries in the world with the same level of expertise in identifying innovative approaches to securing and distributing fresh water to areas previously thought of as inaccessible.”

Scientists, social change agents, engineers, academics, entrepreneurs and other creative minds are encouraged to compete as a team or as individuals. Team registration for the two-year competition closes on 28 April.

For more information or to register your interest, visit www.xprize.org and http://water.xprize.org/.