Brazil will receive 10 generators that use Israeli technology to produce pure, clean-drinking water from ambient air, according to Brazilian Minister of Science, Marcos Cesar Pontes.
The revelation came to light on Tuesday when Pontes was in Israel as part of Brazil’s mission to this year’s Cybertech conference in Tel Aviv.
During his visit to Israel, Pontes visited Watergen’s headquarters whereupon he seized the opportunity to taste the fresh water produced by the GEN-350. Pontes also took time to meet with Watergen’s president, Dr. Michael Mirilashvili, who is the visionary behind the organization’s goal to make clean and safe drinking water available to every human being around the world.
Each of the ten units is a GEN-350 atmospheric water generator, a technological innovation of the Israel-based company of Watergen. A single GEN-350 can produce up to 900 liters of water per day. According to the Brazilian minister, the GEN-350s will be installed in schools and hospitals throughout the country, particularly in areas where there is a lack of safe drinking water.
With a weight of just 800 kilograms, the GEN-350 is easily transportable and can be installed anywhere. It is provided with an internal water treatment system and needs no infrastructure to operate except for electricity. As a transportable machine that can easily be placed on a truck or emergency response vehicle, the GEN-350 is specially designed to assist people in locations that are not easily accessible.
Watergen’s donation of 10 GEN-350s to Brazil comes at a critical time for the country. Two weeks earlier, a dam at a mine in Brumadinho collapsed, leading to the deaths of over 130 people and approximately 200 injured victims.
The IDF sent an aid delegation to Brazil in the wake of the dam collapse. The delegation assisted in locating and rescuing dozens of missing people using a range of advanced technological means. In addition, the soldiers assisted the local Brazilian emergency authorities and shared innovative techniques who will assist and serve the authorities in the searches.
Brazil has also been coping with water shortages in recent years. In 2018, authorities restricted millions of residents to daily water quotas due to a continuous drought. In the previous year, Brazil declared an official emergency in hundreds of cities due to a significant lack of water. A number of experts claim that the water shortage in Brazil, which affects more than 800 municipalities across the country, is due to climate change, rapid expansion of agriculture, poor infrastructure and insufficient planning.
The technology used by the GEN-350 has also come to the rescue of people all over the world who have faced ecological and environmental disasters. More recently, two of Watergen’s GEN-350 units were dispatched to India’s southern state of Kerala to help residents of the region recover from the devastating monsoons that struck the region over the summer of 2018.
Watergen’s efforts to make clean water available around the world earned the company its place on the World Economic Forum’s list of the world’s top technology pioneers in 2018.