Canobolas Public School has tapped into Hydro technology that harnesses sunlight and air to provide clean drinking water for the students, including in times of drought.
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The country primary school, located on Canbolas Road has installed 10 off-grid hydropanels that convert sunlight and air into quality drinking water without relying on electricity or a water source.
The initiative was a collaboration between US-based SOURCE Global and the NSW Department of Education.
Now in 52 countries, SOURCE Global's off-grid, technology is serving businesses, and communities in remote regions, those facing water scarcity, contamination or aging, unreliable infrastructure.
Source global business head Robert Bartrop said the hydropanels have been installed at a number of rural schools across central and western NSW such as Walgett and Narromine so they will continue to have reliable drinking water after levels get low in tanks or bores.
He said the partnership with the department came about due to the regions doing it tough during the last drought but the roll-out was affected by the COVID pandemic.
"The government had a list of what they called drought-affected schools in in NSW," he said.
Mr Bartrop said the panels at Canobolas Public School can produce enough water for all the students to full up their water bottles daily.
As well as drought-proofing the schools, the introduction of the panels is also about reducing plastic in the environment by cutting out the need for bottled water to be brought in.
According to the company, a single panel can offset more than 57,000 single-use plastic water bottles in its lifetime.
Mr Bartrop said the panels at Canobolas Public School would produce the equivalent water for 500,000 single-use bottled water in a 10 to 15-year period.
"It's completely off the grid, the only input is sunlight and air," Mr Bartrop said.
He said the technology draws water vapor from the air and even in works in dry climates such as Western NSW or Arizona where SOURCE is based.
"It's a similar concept to a solar panel but we make water instead of electricity," he said.
"One of the things we are working at the moment is making this more accessible to businesses in NSW."
On Friday, SOURCE Business development director Hamish Thompson and market development director Alex Polson showed students how the technology uses the energy of the sun to draw water from the abundant supply of water vapor in the air, with no electricity or piped water infrastructure.
"Canobolas school students lived through the drought, and they are now seeing how increased storms and flooding can threaten the drinking water supply, so they weren't surprised to learn that by 2050, six billion people will suffer from clean water scarcity due to climate change," Mr Polson said.
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