What is it about?
This article presents a proposal to help coastal communities in Colombia that do not have access to drinking water, such as Manaure in La Guajira. What we did was design and simulate a system that uses solar energy to desalinate seawater, that is, to convert it into water suitable for human consumption. We focused particularly on a rural school where more than 500 Wayuu children do not have sufficient access to clean water. Using digital tools, we evaluated how this system would work, how much it would cost, what impact it would have on health and the environment, and how viable it would be to use this solution in other similar areas. The aim is to show that renewable energy can be used to create sustainable solutions for vulnerable communities.
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Why is it important?
This research is crucial because it responds to an urgent need: to guarantee access to drinking water in communities that have historically been neglected, such as La Paz in Manaure, La Guajira. Through the design and simulation of a system that converts seawater into safe water using solar energy, we show that it is possible to devise real solutions based on the conditions of the territory. More than a technical proposal, this work collects social, environmental, and economic data to anticipate how a desalination plant would function in rural contexts, efficiently, sustainably, and with a tangible impact on people's lives. By focusing on a specific case and using accessible tools, we pave the way for this solution to be adapted to many other communities with similar challenges.
Perspectives
From a personal perspective, this publication represents an effort that goes beyond the academic realm. Working on this research allowed me to connect technical knowledge with a deeply human social reality. Being in contact with communities such as La Paz, seeing the conditions in which hundreds of children live with limited access to water, gave even more meaning to the work we do in engineering. Designing and simulating this system was not just a modelling exercise: it was a way of imagining possible, sustainable and dignified solutions for historically excluded territories. I sincerely hope that this model can be adapted and replicated, and that it will contribute to reducing gaps as basic as the right to water. For me, that is the reason why we do science.
Dr. Ramon Fernando Colmenares Quintero
Fundación Berstic and Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Design of an Integral Simulation Model for Solar-Powered Seawater Desalination in Coastal Communities: A Case Study in Manaure, La Guajira, Colombia, Sustainability, February 2025, MDPI AG,
DOI: 10.3390/su17041505.
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