Wednesday, August 10, 2011

WATER TO EMERGING ECONOMIES: Towing Icebergs to Provide Fresh Water for Parched Regions

Published 10 August 2011
A third of the world's population -- more than two billion people -- lives without access to clean drinking water, and studies show that the situation will only get worse; a French innovator has an idea: towing icebergs from the Greenland and Antarctica to regions most in need of fresh water; a computer simulation shows this solution to be viable and affordable
An idea that first surfaced in the 1970's may be right for today // Source: icetrim.org
A third of the world’s population — more than two billion people — lives without access to clean drinking water, and recent droughts in Africa have left twelve million people without water. To aid them, French eco-entrepreneurGeorges Mougin plans to harvest icebergs across the world to solve the water shortage.
For the last forty years – Mougin, 86, first came up with his iceberg scheme in the early 1970s – he  has tried to figure out a way to tow freshwater icebergs across the Arctic. Experts have argued it would be too expensive and difficult to carry out his plan, but now it appears this his dream is about to come true.  Read more

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