Northern Beaches Council is participating in an innovative project to produce drinking water from air using solar energy.

The project at Currawong, a Council-owned eco resort located in Sydney’s picturesque Pittwater region, uses SOURCE Hydropanels to produce clean drinking water for the resort, which currently relies on rainwater and has no reticulated water supply.

Council partnered with Zero Mass Water, producer of the SOURCE Hydropanels used in the project.

Northern Beaches Mayor Michael Regan said Council was delighted to participate in the installation, given the far reaching benefits the technology could bring to residents of Northern Beaches Council.

“So far, the installation at Currawong shows positive results. We hope it will be a success.

“This technology means drinking water will be available in places with unreliable or no water supply at all, substantially reducing the cost of servicing these areas and mitigating the need for plastic bottled water.

“It’s good news for the environment and great news for people who face uncertainty as a result of intermittent rainfall,” Mayor Regan said.

Zero Mass Water Executive Vice President – Global Business Development Rob Bartrop said the company was pleased to partner with the Northern Beaches Council.

“We are thrilled to showcase our SOURCE technology at such a beautiful yet isolated location, which is cut off from traditional water infrastructure by waterways and the Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park.

“The SOURCE Hydropanel array installed at Currawong will produce up to 1825 standard water bottles per month, and offset over 300,000 plastic bottles in their 15-year lifetime, helping to preserve the pristine beauty of the beaches, parks and waterways located on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.”

The Hydropanels use a combination of materials science, thermodynamics, and controls technology to extract water from the air. The water is stored in a reservoir integrated in the Hydropanel and pumped to a dispenser.

Zero Mass Water has installed SOURCE at more than 35 locations across Australia. SOURCE now produces infrastructure-free, high-quality drinking water in a variety of settings including homes, farms, businesses, schools, national parks and resorts.

To date, SOURCE Hydropanels have been installed in 17 countries across five continents.

This project received funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) as part of ARENA’s Advancing Renewables Program.