Photo Credit: Delta Hotels by Marriott
A luxury hotel is making waves for its ability to alleviate water scarcity in the United Arab Emirates.
Delta Hotels by Marriott in Dubai Investment Park installed two AirOWater atmospheric water generators, which produce up to 1,000 liters of water per day, accounting for all the property’s clean drinking water needs, per Hotel Technology News.
“AirOWater utilizes moisture content in the air to create drinking water through a four-step filtration process,” HTN reported. “The machine’s optimum performance ideally requires a minimum humidity level of approximately 50 percent. However, the Airowater is designed to produce sufficient amounts of water in conditions of lower humidity as well.”
In addition to the water production, the AWGs allowed the hotel to entirely cut its use of plastic water bottles for glass, which amounts to 11,000 kilograms of plastic per 1,000 liters of H2O. HTN also noted there is no water waste as there is with desalination and reverse osmosis treatments.
“All of us in hospitality need to focus more on sustainability and look for solutions together to eliminate plastic bottles in our properties,” Delta Hotels general manager Raja Zeidan said. “The consideration of how we use water, and the containers in which water is stored, is a good starting point, however, we plan to invest a lot of time and energy into sustainable initiatives for the future of our hotels.”
It’s an important step in an increasingly dry region. The UAE has the highest per capita consumption of water worldwide, and the country could exhaust its supply of natural freshwater in 50 years, per HTN. The water table has dropped one meter per year in the last 30 years.
India-based AirOWater is looking to help solve “the global shortage of clean drinking water and replace plastic by providing an innovative and sustainable solution to the increasing demand for fresh drinking water,” HTN reported.
Water scarcity is a growing problem as the climate warms and produces extreme weather events such as droughts and floods. This and other innovations, including a hydrogel powered by solar energy, water recycling measures, and water purification devices, however, are clearing the path to a safer future.
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