How do we ensure clean water is accessible? Introducing LiMarine

As mentioned in our presentation video, the United States Bureau of Reclamation (U.S.B.R.) has stated that about 3% of the Earth's water is fresh water, while the remaining 97% of them is salt water (see citation source). Since the amount of fresh water is less, that is where we get the idea of why not we turn salt water into fresh water.

OKITO and the members of QQ have proposed LiMarine, an Intergovernmental Organization (IGO) to convert salt water into fresh water. The IGO name was inspired by a combination of the siblings sirname (Lim) and the term that is related to sea and ocean (Marine).

Desalination is an artificial process (proses tiruan) of removing salt and mineral molecules from the sea water to produce and supply fresh water that is safe and drinkable for human consumption. In our proposal, the two (2) famous methods of desalination are:

• Reverse osmosis method: The process of high pressure pumps forcing salt waters to go through a microscopic filter membrane to let pure water pass through, while trapping salt ions.

• Distillation method: The process of collecting steam from boiling seawater that is free from salt after cooling from evaporation.

Because of the intense amount of time, cost and energy consumption, it is not wise to use distillation method to filter out fresh water from the ocean. Hence, as a prudent IGO, it would be wiser to use reverse osmosis because it is faster, cost-effective and easy to distribute across various areas.

LiMarine's reverse osmosis method machineries are powered by renewable energy such as solar energy, hydro energy and wind-powered energy. 

• If one of the options are not available because of the weather, there will be other two backup options as well.

• For example, if the current weather situation is cloudy (which solar panels cannot absorb sunlights), then the machineries can be powered by windy weather and hydro rivers (and vice-versa for other situations).

When LiMarine filtered out fresh water from sea water, there will be access brine (high-concentrated salt water). About 1 liter of fresh water can be produced from 1.5 liters of brine.

The excess brine cannot just simply dump on the ocean because it is denser and can hurt the ecosystem and life below water. Hence, the excess can used for other purposes. One of our suggestion includes turning it into seaweed and create a "LiMarine Bioplastic" manufacturing that replaces plastic usage.

Used water (waste water) produced by consumers can be re-produced to supply and fulfill drinkable, safe and fresh water again. This can be inspired by Singapore's Public Utilities Board (PUB), where wastewater can be treated through microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet disinfection.

LiMarine plans to collaborate with Singapore's PUB to further supply and enhance the water quality among targetted countries.

It would be a huge contribution to pollution if LiMarine uses plastic water bottles to store fresh water. Furthermore, if we used bottles made from seaweed (brine), it wouldn't last long.

Hence, LiMarine plans to use SmartTAP introduced by LORENTZ to store fresh water in water tanks which will be useful in the long-run. The concept is useful in rural areas where water are supplied by buckets. Those that couldn't afford fresh water may extract from the machine free of charge, but prudent methods MUST be implemented to ensure no one, regardless of status, is wasting the freshly produced water.

In Year 1 (2026), LiMarine plans to expand Research and Development (R&D) for architects to design suitable buildings and materials, such as plastic bricks from recycle plastic and sands, recycled aluminium cans to build pipes, and many more.

LiMarine will pitch to investors and government institution to fund its development.

LiMarine will ensure that the water production meets with the following criteria:

• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which upholds multilateral frameworks such as the Paris Climate Agreement (Perjanjian Iklim Paris), the Kuala Lumpur Convention (Konvensyen Kuala Lumpur) and the Kyoto Protocol (Protokol Kyoto).

• International Organization for Standardization (ISO) which ensures high quality output and meets international safety standards towards goods and services produced, as well as meeting the Principles of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG).

In 2026, LiMarine plans to obtain tenders from local governments to start the construction of various infrastructures.

Between Year 1 and Year 2 (2026 - 2027), LiMarine starts small by supplying clean water and manufacturing in parts of India, where fresh water is a high-scarcity resource in the country.

• Water infrastructures are planned to be builded on Bengaluru in Karnataka, India.

• When there are sufficient progresses, investors and government agencies are able to gain from our trust, which can attract more investments towards the infrastructure expansion.

• Additional expansion beyond Bengaluru can be build on surrounding areas like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Sistan And Baluchestan.

• To ensure fairness, in Year 4 (2029), LiMarine plans to expand help to Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Chile.

Hence, this proposal aims to achieve clean water expansion by 2030 for a better future. However, as this project is just a challenge under the UN SDG, this proposal and references can be useful for anyone, including future entrepreneurs and design thinkers, that willingly risk themselves to achieve world sustainability.

OKITO and the members of QQ have obtain certificates of excellence for outstanding contribution for a tangible solution to the UN SDGs. OKITO and the members of QQ are very honoured as it has helped not only in providing a solution as a team, but also has glorify the names, image, strength, opportunities and reputation of us, the Google Wai Kit Team (GWK) and QQ Care Centre in the international level.