It's not going to be to everyone's taste! The machine that turns
SWEAT into purified drinking water
As the UK basks in a heatwave, a charity has found a way to
put the sweat caused by the enjoyable results of the hot summer
weather to good use - by turning it into clean, drinkable
water.
UNICEF has created the Sweat Machine that squeezes the sweat
from people's clothes and then purifies the liquid to create
drinking water.
It was developed and built as part of UNICEF
Sweden's campaign to raise awareness of the lack
of clean water in many parts of the world.
Charity staff unveiled the machine during the opening of
the the world’s biggest international youth
football tournament, the Gothia Cup.
Players and visitors were encouraged
to hand over their sweat-drenched clothes, or to
accept the challenge of drinking a glass of water from the Sweat
Machine.
On average, one sweaty football shirt produced 10 millilitres
of drinking water.
While many people might be squeamish about the idea of
drinking water derived from human sweat, the machine proved
surprisingly popular, with a number of celebrities having a
tipple.
Swedish footballers Mohammed Ali Khan and
Tobias Hysén were the first people to sample the refreshments on
offer at the tournament.
The campaign was designed to raise awareness of 780 million
people's lack of access to drinking water.
Around 125 million children currently do not have safe water
to drink and thousands die each day as a result.
UNICEF works with governments and local organisations in more
than 90 countries with the aim of giving every child access to
clean water and toilets in schools and local communities around the
world.
Per Westberg of UNICEF Sweden, said: 'We
wanted to raise this subject in a new, playful and engaging
way.
'Our Sweat Machine is a reminder that we all share the same
water. We all drink and sweat in the same way, regardless of how we
look or what language we speak.
'
Water is everyone's responsibility and should be everyone’s
concern.'
The concept was dreamed up by the charity, the Gothia Cup,
creative agency Deportiv0 and celebrity engineer Andreas Hammar,
but the machine has its limitations.
Mattias Ronge of Deportiv0,
said: 'People haven't produced as much sweat as
we hoped - right now the weather in Gothenburg is
lousy.'
'We've installed exercise bikes alongside the machine and
volunteers are cycling like crazy, but even so, the demand for
sweat is greater than the supply.'
There are no plans for the machine to be mass produced as the
charity uses better solutions such as water purifying pills in
places where clean water is in short supply.
It costs £21 to buy 5,000 water purification tablets for
people with no access to drinking water.