The Warm Springs Reservation Water-Generating Hydropanels Farm, Oregon

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The Warm Springs Indian Reservation, straddling Highway 26 east of Mt. Hood, is 640,000 acres of high desert and forest in Oregon. About 5,000 people live on the reservation that's home to three native tribes: the Warm Springs, Wasco and Paiute. There are rivers and creeks, but most homes either are not hooked up to utility pipe infrastructure or what water they do get isn't safe to drink. Residents of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation face on-going issues with water shortages and contaminated water. Either they are not piped to the existing infrastructure or they are connected but the infrastructure is old, and water delivered to the residents is not drinkable. When pipes and pumps failed, residents resorted to purchasing bottled or tanked water if available and, if not, simply boiled water to make it drinkable. In partnership with the one2one USA Foundation and the Warm Springs Economic Development Corporation, two Donors, Source Global, residents of Oregon, have initiated a multi-staged SOURCE Field project which is underway to provide a centralized clean drinking water supply for the entire community. A Hydropanels Water Farm is an innovative one-of-a-kind renewable water technology that uses the power of the sun to extract clean, pollutant-free drinking water from the air. Collected water is then mineralized for ideal composition and taste, making premium-quality drinking water a readily available resource. The technology developed and installed by Source Global. The first wave of a new solution to providing drinking water came in the summer of 2021, when private donations covered the cost of installing 200 hydropanels that create drinking water by absorbing water vapor out of the air. The panels, mounted either on a roof or on the ground, purify the water through heat from the sun while also adding necessary minerals. The 200 panels were installed in the Warm Springs community, producing 160 gallons of drinking water per day. Residents can drive up to the site and fill up for free. By the end of 2021, the project site, referred to as the reservation’s hydropanel “farm”, is expected to encompass an acre’s worth of land through the purchase of 300 additional hydropanels using COVID relief money. With this expansion, the reservation’s hydropanels are predicted to produce 720 gallons per day. While the Hydropanels are an ideal solution for the Warm Springs Tribe, the purchase and installation cost would have been insurmountable without additional assistance. To make the project a reality, the community and SOURCE Global partnered with one2one USA Foundation, a nonprofit with a unique model that allows individual donors to develop and fund programs they care about. Donors worked through One2One to provide the funding needed to purchase and install a field of Hydropanels with an eye towards a larger project in the future. The project site is accessible to the public once a week, on Mondays and is operated by Warm Springs Ventures, a non-profit organization that develops business opportunities for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. For those not located close to the center of the reservation, fifty homes were chosen to have two panels installed and now benefit from 16 gallons of drinking water per day available right at their tap. The 4-by-8-foot panels cost around $2,000 each. Private donations funded the purchase of the first 200 panels, as well as the internal system and storage site. The first phase allows the tribes to produce 160 gallons of water per day. The 35 families who received the panels at their homes were chosen based on need and access to water, said Goddard. Another 15 families expect to receive panels at their homes this year. The technology: The SOURCE® Hydropanel is a technology that incorporates multiple patented inventions alongside proprietary trade secrets, making it a one-of-a-kind renewable water technology that uses the power of the sun to extract clean, pollutant-free drinking water from the air. Collected water is then mineralized for ideal composition and taste, making premium-quality drinking water a readily available resource. Solar energy powers the panel completely off-grid Fans draw in ambient air and push it through a hygroscopic, or water-absorbing material, that traps water vapor from the air The water vapor is extracted and passively condenses into liquid that is collected in the reservoir Minerals are added to make perfect drinking water The cost is about 46 cents per gallon compared to a 24-pack of 16.9 ounce Nestle water bottles runs on Amazon for $12.25, or $3.92 per gallon. At Walmart, a gallon of purified drinking water is 80 cents. So even at $2,000 per panel, 200 panels producing 160 gallons a year comes out 46 cents per gallon over the 15-year lifetime of the panels, significantly cheaper than retail bottles and without the environmental burden of single-use plastics.

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