Water solutions a click away?

Helping solve water crisis may take quite some time but a quick way to join in the efforts is to simply lend your computer time when idle.

Scientists will tap idle processing power to develop water filtering technology, clean up polluted waterways, and find treatments for water-related diseases.
Those were among the projects announced by IBM, which sponsors a global network of linked personal computers called the Worldwide Community Grid.

In China, Tsinghua University researchers, with the help of Australian and Swiss scientists, will use 1.5 million computers on the Worldwide Community Grid to develop nanotechnology to create drinkable water from polluted sources, as well as from saltwater.

To do that, the scientists need to run millions of computer simulations as part of their “Computing for Clean Water” project.

Brazilian scientists, meanwhile, will plug into the grid to screen 13 million chemical compounds in their search for a cure for schistosomiasis, a water-borne tropical disease that kills between 11,000 and 200,000 people annually.

In the United States, the Worldwide Community Grid will be used to run complex simulations that assess how actions by farmers, power plant operators, real estate developers, and others affect the health of Chesapeake Bay, the nation’s largest estuary.

Laudable effort even though one could say there are simpler ways to manage and conserve water! By simply becoming more conscious of this precious resource.