Meet Spout, The Third Source of Drinking Water; Sustainable, Healthy, Affordable
Water. Agua. Mizu. Wasser. Eau. Neró. Ma’.
Nourishing. Fresh. Cleansing. Revitalizing. Delicious.
That’s the kind of drinking water I want to fill my body with. When I first heard of Spout, I imagined drinking clean water as if I could squeeze a cloud into a cup.
The sun rises and kisses my eyes awake. I stir, stretching my limbs like my feline friend does when she wakes from her naps. Moving up and out of the softness of my warm bed, I delicately walk through the doorway to reach the room that holds one of my first morning rituals; pouring myself a cup of water. A simple act of reconnecting to my body and a subtle reminder of my relationship to nature. It's the little things, right?
And without thinking, we drink. We rehydrate our parched lips and quench our thirst. There is usually an unconscious act to this simple doing because it is a vital part of our life. It holds such an important and necessary role and at the same time lives in the background of our day to day. And the wild fact that the human body is primarily made of water blows my mind!
SPOUT HAS CHANGED MY RELATIONSHIP WITH WATER
Bringing Spout into my world has added a dimension of difference in the way I relate to the water I drink.
The first time I was introduced to this water-making machine stirred that feeling of awe and an itch of curiosity. For about ten years or so now, I've been a lot more interested in a holistic lifestyle that included eating organic foods and drinking clean water. Reuben Vollmer, creator of this innovative technology, placed it on my kitchen counter three years ago to show me the magic! All I remember was waking up to see dew-like drops captured in the chamber that collects the water that was once not there the night before.
Spout is a machine that collects water from the air.
Imagine walking down a path on an early morning and you see a field of grass. You notice tiny water droplets on the surface. Dew! Dew is the moisture that forms when the air cools down and its moisture condenses onto cooler surfaces. This is what inspired Vollmer to begin his 9-year journey to creating a machine to collect this generous and almost unnoticed resource!
HOW DOES SPOUT WORK?
Spout pulls the water from the air using a desiccant clay wheel, then heating the wheel to drive the moisture out of the clay before condensing. Simultaneously, it cleans the air with an air filter that is hospital-grade. It then filters the water and remineralizes it before landing in the pitcher. This pitcher is also made with a top that has a built-in UV-sterilizer to make sure this high quality water stays clean without having to add chemicals to the water.
SPOUT IN DAILY LIFE
Walking over to Spout, I hold onto the sturdy, ergonomic handle of the pitcher and gently remove it from its water cave to pour into my cup, and into the pot where I will heat the water for my coffee and into my purring cat’s water bowl.
As I fill my cat’s water bowl and I look over at the tap, a relic from a by-gone era. It disturbs me to think of how disconnected we are from our connection to nature. Living in the city, I know the tap water, invisible to the eyes, filled with chemicals, too many to count or quantify with modern technology. Yet it is palpable to the pallet, tasting metallic, chlorinated, non-reminiscent of water. A contaminated catastrophe hidden behind a veil of microscopic proportions. It estimated that over 70% of tap water in some cities contains PFAS chemicals of which even one molecule per trillion of water can cause cancer.
And, bottles? It’s like napalm for nature. One bottle, two pieces of plastic. A wrapper and a CO2 footprint to match hauled over hills, highways into houses, carrying a paycheck that my heart can’t cash. Knowing that only 5% of bottles make it to recycling.
And so, the joy of experiencing high-quality water makes me feel so good. Placing the rectangular glass pitcher back in its place, I go on about my day. And within minutes, the pitcher begins to refill. It feels like the best of both worlds where science and nature meet to create a new way to reconnect us to a new source of drinking water.
“Necessity is the Mother of Invention.” - Plato
A NEW ERA
I see humans as extensions of nature, and I wonder when inventions rise to the surface of our awareness, from mind to matter, that there holds a purpose. It’s on purpose that this new piece of innovation is being brought on the stage for people to experience a new possibility and to make room for a new way to do something. Maybe even perceive something. This is evolution. And when there are simpler and ingenious ways of addressing issues that can better serve the earth and humanity, it’s important to pay attention.
As I fill my cat’s water bowl and I look over at the tap, a relic from a by-gone era, it disturbs me to think of how disconnected we are from our connection to nature. Living in the city, I know the tap water is filled with chemicals, too many to count or even analyze with modern technology. It has an obvious smell and tastes metallic, chlorinated, looking opaque.
