Interest widens in water-from-air technology.THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the federal agency responsible for coordinating emergency planning, preparedness, risk reduction, response, and recovery. The agency works closely with state and local governments by funding emergency programs and providing technical has purchased two water extraction units from Aqua Sciences Inc. of Miami Beach Miami Beach, city (1990 pop. 92,639), Dade co., SE Fla., on an island between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean; inc. 1915. It is connected to Miami by four causeways. , Fla. The recent hurricanes, the Southeast Asian tsunami and the war in Iraq have spurred increased interest in technology that can produce drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. from the air or automotive exhaust. Aqua Sciences and Hamilton Sundstrand Hamilton Sundstrand, is a global corporation that manufactuers and supports aerospace and industrial products for worldwide markets. It was formed from the merger of Hamilton Standard and Sundstrand Corporation in 1999. of Windsor Locks, Conn., displayed their water recovery systems for Army officials at a recent tactical wheeled vehicle technology demonstration at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md. Officials at both companies said Army officials are interested in systems that can be scaled down and fit into the back of a Humvee to produce "water on the go." Water-from-exhaust systems can recover about a half-gallon of water for every gallon of fuel, said Doug Snowdon, an engineer with Hamilton Sundstrand. "The water tastes very flat, like distilled water," he said. Mike O'Connor, program manager at Aqua Sciences, said atmospheric conditions affect how much water can be collected from air extraction systems. Even in hot, dry areas such as Iraq, water can be extracted. Cold and dry weather produces less water than desert conditions, he said. "When the temperature is 30 degrees and the relative humidity relative humidity n. The ratio of the amount of water vapor in the air at a specific temperature to the maximum amount that the air could hold at that temperature, expressed as a percentage. is 5 or 10 percent, that definitely affects the amount of water that we can produce," O'Connor said. |
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