Glenview Tech Company is Committed to Solving the Nation's Energy and Water Crises

Glenview Tech Company is Committed to Solving the Nation's Energy and Water Crises

According to a United Nations report 17 percent of humanity is without access to clean water, representing more than 1.1 billion people. And the U.S. in not immune. According to the EPA, more than 30 million Americans live in areas where water systems violated safety rules at the beginning of last year. Others simply cannot afford to keep water flowing. As with basically all environmental and climate issues, poor people and minority communities are hit hardest.

Glenview's CogniTek has set out to address this growing problem. They create profitable energy products and technologies that bring these solutions to the market, prioritizing the nexus between energy, water, and food.

"When we learned about the plight of the Navajo nation where one-in three citizens do not have access to indoor plumbing, and where a high percentage of death and illness is caused by contaminated drinking water from 521 abandoned aluminum mines, we recognized that our technologies could help address this issue there and elsewhere. It is estimated that it would take $700 million to get everyone on the reservation hooked up with safe tap water and basic sanitation," according to CogniTek's Michael Gurin.

Gurin notes that while his organization has developed innovative technologies, investors and philanthropic organizations who recognize the need to help reverse the dire drinking water situation, need to step in to provide the funding. Grants would make a high difference in bringing down the current methods for delivering fresh drinking water, such as the application of coatings that would neutralize the dangerous heavy metals and lead often lining pipes.

"It's important to understand that water access isn't just about fresh potable water, you have to consider the role of water in agriculture and food production. For example, it takes $5,000 for the water to produce an acre of lettuce. On average, agriculture accounts for 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawals. In the last 30 years, food production has increased by more than 100 percent," according to Gurin.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. FAO estimates that about 60 percent more food will be needed by 2050 to meet the food requirements of a growing global population. Irrigated food production will increase by more than 50 percent by 2050, but the amount of water withdrawn by agriculture can increase by only 10 percent, if irrigation practices are improved, and yields increase. The world contains an estimated 1 400 million cubic km of water. But only 0.003% of this vast amount, about 45 000 cubic km, are "freshwater resources" that could be used for drinking, hygiene, agriculture, and industry. But not all this water is accessible because part of it flows into remote rivers during seasonal floods.

"Our goal is to help support sustainable communities by providing the new technologies that will bring down the cost of water and energy so they can be self-reliant and pass on their knowledge to like-minded communities,"

concludes Gurin. http://cognitek.com.