Production has shut off our water.
Can we create our own water supply?
- Water out of thin air. - It's, like, monstrous.
- Ready? - I'm nervous.
I'm nervous, too.
- Aah! What the ( bleep )? - It smells like shit.
I can defy stereotypes about gay men
and I can ( bleep ) do this.
- Oh! - Look at that!
It is going in here. You can really feel it.
- Pretty much a shower. - ( yelps )
Mitch:
and it's not just our sexy good looks.
-
Greg:
we detail some of the biggest issues we're facing.
We're going to go to the farm.
So we're taking our passion for the environment
and scientific know-how out of the classroom
and into the country.
Greg:
Mitch:
Production has officially turned off our power.
I'm freaking out.
...allowing us to experiment
with everything from new technology,
to traditional technology,
to find solutions that promote sustainability.
- Oh, my gosh. - Greg:
we will use science...
Mitch:
Yes! It works!
See ya, city, because...
Both:
Production has shut off our water.
Which means we got to find a source of water to survive, basically.
And water, as you know, is essential.
There's actually no organism on this planet that we know of
that doesn't need water to survive.
- Even the famous tardigrade which we're all obsessed-- - Famous tardigrade.
The famous tardigrade coming to the stage...
( air horn blares )
...doesn't need food or air,
but does need water,
and Canadians use 329 liters of water a day.
That's a lot of bathing that we're doing,
long showers that we're taking.
Its even more water being used than Americans,
and no Canadian would ever want an American to know that we use more.
More than most of the world, honestly.
So I think we have our work cut out for us to make sure
we can supply ourselves with enough water to survive.
And if we can't do that, at least this is a gorgeous place to die.
Mitch:
Going to the corner store to pick up some water is not an option.
The very first things I do every single day involve a lot of water.
And so to fully disrupt that
is going to be a complete lifestyle shift.
The water crisis is real.
In less than 20 years, the world's demand
for fresh water will be more than the supply.
But only if we continue to extract and consume water the way we do right now.
Most of the world relies on groundwater or aquifers that are running out fast,
so today we're going to be harvesting water from the air,
the rain, and nearby streams
to show alternative ways we can get the stuff.
And who knows? In the future, these concepts may save our lives.
Our water goal for survival is 2.5 liters of water for drinking,
3 liters for cooking, and only 2 liters for bathing our pits and bodies.
Which is hundreds less than we would typically use, right?
And even that, I'm like, I think I need to conserve even more.
I'm just nervous about how we're going to get this water.
- Have you heard of a dew harvester before? - No.
So these are actually used in certain regions in the world where water is scarce
or access to water is really far away.
They can collect anywhere between 10 to 100 liters
of water a day from something like this.
This is just a model, but the real thing will be built 10 meters tall.
- No! - Like, five versions of us. Huge.
And the premise of it is to try and extract water out of the air
even when it's not raining through condensation and dew.
Mine is a rainwater collection system that we're actually going to install onto our cabin.
- Cool. Okay, okay. - I'm going to drill.
I'm going to make eavestroughs, slant them all towards a specific collection tank,
which we're actually going to raise.
We're going to be collecting the water in this tank
and using a tube and the force of gravity.
I'm hoping that I can connect it to our faucet
so that we can use the water to wash our dishes, wash our hands.
And I'm also hoping that we can get a pump system to create a shower.
- Key. - Key, key, key.
- I've been wondering. I was going to wonder. - Key, key, key.
So it comes potentially from that same tank.
- This is thine hope. - These are both fun, big ideas,
but it's not about the size of the project that matters.
it's about making sure we're able to collect enough water to survive,
and I'm getting thirsty.
So let's begin the build starting with the dew tower.
I'm glad I have a build team with me to point me in the right direction
because I don't know what the hell I'm doing.
I'm supervising, if that's all right.
Here's a perfect little experiment to help understand
how our dew tower's actually going to work.
You know when you get a nice ice water
and the outside of the glass starts to fog or actually get wet?
It's because warm air actually holds more moisture than cold air.
So as the warm air blows past this nice cold water,
it decreases in temperature,
and hits something called the dew point,
where it deposits water from the air onto the glass.
It's the reason this glass with no ice has no wetness
because the air doesn't really change its temperature very much.
That's actually the same principle as our dew tower.
The plastic has air blowing through it,
and at night, this plastic is going to cool down more than the air.
And the hope is that it will hit the dew point,
where the air can't hold the water anymore.
It deposits on this, trickles down into our jug,
and that's how we're going to get water.
Once the dew collects, we have drips.
Dripping, the force of gravity forcing it down.
Force of gravity. And then we have a funnel to collect all this water.
- Oh, my gosh. - And then how we have the bucket at the bottom.
Every morning we can go and check and see how much water we actually have underneath.
How did you think of this?
I mean, well, it was actually inspired by nature,
something called biomimicry.
For example, the atlas moth, which evolved wings
that look like two cobra heads.
This helps protect it from being eaten
by visual predators such as birds.
Biomimicry is a field of study in which humans
actively seek out advantageous traits of other species to make our lives better.
This dew harvester is based on traits of the namib beetle.
Namib beetles live in dry conditions
and lean their bodies towards fog-dense wind
to collect water from microscopic bumps on their back,
which they then drink.
Studying these animals has led
to fog and dew harvesters all over the world,
like in Morocco, where people in the Sahara Desert use mesh
to capture fog and dew for themselves.
I love that with scientific design.
We're always trying to figure out things.
Just look to nature and you'll find the answers.
It can actually just be inspired by the world around us.
Yeah.
We're starting our rainwater collection system today,
and I do obviously need help.
So we have Kevin from the YouTube Channel Modern Self Reliance,
who is going to help me with some self-relying.
What do we have here? This is the main bread and butter
- of what we're about to do? - Yes, this is the eave trough.
So what do I do? Just lift it? Is it heavy?
- It's not heavy. - Oh, my God. Look how--
- Look at that! - It makes you feel strong, right?
- Seriously, get this. Say that it's heavy. - It's heavy.
Oh, it's so heavy.
Kevin and I are going to install the eavestrough
on the bunky to collect the rainwater in a barrel.
The water will be unfiltered, so it's not safe to drink,
but we can use it to wash our dishes and our bodies.
And we're going to need it, because over 80 percent of household water
is used for showering, washing clothes,
watering the lawn, and flushing thine toilet.
I avoid drills. I avoid building things.
I don't really know why I'm making this show
now that I'm saying all of this out loud.
I think that I can defy stereotypes about gay men,
and I can do ( bleep ) do this.
- Are we allowed to swear? - We can bleep it.
- Okay. - Uh, so ( bleeping )
When we install the eavestrough,
we need to make sure that each section is slanted toward the end points
so all the rainwater will travel downhill
and drain into our rain barrel.
Okay, so this cut to the right angle is going to go into...
It's going to go straight into that one.
So we're about to do some math, my friend.
- 43. - 43 and a quarter, sir, coming right up.
Now we're going to cut this. That's so scary to me.
How is this a saw? If I do this, nothing bad will happen, right?
You can pull it and as long as it's-- oh, there you go.
- Oh! - You're just going to plunge cut.
- Just go nice and slow. - Oh, my God.
Okay, okay! I swear I can do it.
Commit to it. Do it.
- There you go. - Aah!
Oh, my God!
I want to do that for the rest of the day.
All right, special delivery, boys.
- Whew! Okay. - Okay, we're taking this side.
We have all the lattice put together.
Everything is ready other than this mesh being tied in
as sort of the final piece to this segment.
The dew tower is 10 meters tall
because the larger the surface area of plastic netting,
the more dew that can form, which means more water for us.
We've got the first section done,
which was a task in itself,
but hopefully the first one was the hardest one.
Then we have to make the other four segments,
and then eventually stack them one on top of the other.
We have a lot of work to do.
But we also still need to figure out what we're doing now
for our drinking water situation.
Yeah, 'tis essential.
And so is a chance to bathe.
It's over 30 degrees out, and all this work is making me a sweaty mess.
Oh, wow.
We've been told that there's some stream or body of water
down in the forested area around here.
And to be honest, there needs to be,
or else we're literally screwed for water,
because it has to rain.
Mitch: Please tell me there's not ticks here.
Why did I wear shorts?
They looked cute. I thought they were cute.
( groans )
I'm scared. Wait for me!
This is not what I was picturing at all.
It's very "Blair Witch Project."
- Aah! What the-- - It's a gorgeous butterfly.
No, that was a disgusting moth.
Okay, okay, there's a lot of spider webs around here!
- I'm starting to see what I think could be a stream. - Oh, my gosh.
OMG.
Um, this is our-- are you going to bathe in that?
- I am going to bathe in that. - You will not.
I have to, but I'm like-- to be honest,
I thought it'd be a little bit bigger.
But I am pleasantly surprised.
This is a fine source of fresh water.
We're so lucky to be in Canada and to even have this.
So, our immediate fix for drinking water
is that we're actually going to be filtering this stream
through different carbon filters in order to hydrate ourselves.
They are so portable that they can be used all over the world,
especially with places that don't have access to clean water.
Climate change and drought is forcing thirsty animals
to seek out drinking water
from new sources that we interact with more.
In the future, our exposure to disease-carrying pathogens
from animals near our drinking water
means that carbon filters may become essential to protect us.
The carbon filter works by allowing anything smaller than 0.2 microns--
which is water molecules-- through.
Clean water can get through the actual filter inside here.
Anything larger than that, for example, E. coli,
or giardia lamblia, which I've gotten twice from drinking from a stream--
He's got a good relationship with giardia lamblia.
Those will not get through. They'll actually get stuck.
And when you're done drinking, you blow them out.
Maybe 2035's hottest new accessory
will be a carbon filter around thy neck.
- Oh, my God. It smells like shit. - Oh, my God.
We fully thought the water would be this tall.
And here we are, like, trying to lick the ground.
- Honestly, it tastes good. - Wow.
Save some for the fish!
I'm literally still thirsty.
- Okay, it is beautifully cold. - Yes.
- It's so refreshing. - It is important to know
that it's not necessarily filtering out chemicals,
so if you have pollutants in the water or different toxic chemicals,
you don't want to be drinking it.
But these are still so essential
for the world in many places.
This is a huge savior in many ways.
Our entire population needs around 2.6 trillion liters of water to survive,
so surely we have enough on the planet, right? Not exactly.
In this container, we have 19 liters of water,
representing all the water on Earth.
Now, only 2.5% of it--
500 milliliters, shown here--
is fresh water.
But of that 2.5%,
only 1.2% of it is available as surface water,
- like, in lakes. - And of that surface water,
about 69% is locked away in ground ice and permafrost,
leaving only around 30% of it available to us.
Now even though this fresh water is available to us,
that doesn't mean that it's drinkable.
It doesn't mean that it's not contaminated.
And so make it so, it costs billions of dollars in Canada alone.
Greg: Contaminated water is estimated to cause
485,000 deaths per year from things like diarrhea,
cholera, typhoid, and polio.
And it's estimated that by 2025,
over half of the world's population
is going to be living in water-stressed areas.
We are going to treat this water.
We are going to drink this water.
We are going to bathe in this water, Mitchell,
and if not, I'm just going to smell great.
You're gon' smell like B.O.
- I'll dip my toes in. - Okay.
Aah! It's too cold. It's freezing cold and muddy. Fun.
It's going to make great content.
Okay. So...
Well, we made it.
I never want to go there again.
- But you have to because we have to drink water. - No, no.
I honestly could do this every day. Mitch? Come on!
I could not. I will not.
And in fact, now I've got a fire under my butt
to make these projects we're trying to build.
- This is what we have! - Wow. This is wild.
The coolest thing about this mesh that we're using
is all these holes allow for there to be a lot of surface area,
which will allow the air to pass through and condense on all these areas.
The dew tower to me is a piece of art.
The science behind it is so cool.
Mine relies on rain. That freaks me out.
Going to hopefully fill a 170 liter barrel
in order for us to brush our teeth
and wash ourselves and have a shower.
So, I feel like there is kind of pressure on me,
so I better get back to work.
Rain barrel systems are great, but here in central Canada
temperatures drop below the freezing point in winter.
Water naturally expands when it freezes,
so if you don't want cracks and leaks in your rain barrel,
you best drain out the water before winter comes.
There is a number of municipalities that offer incentives
to actually collect your rainwater in order to use it.
I feel really ignorant that I came all the way here to do something like this
and then, realizing, wait, we should be doing this on our home in the city.
- Why don't we put this in our cities more? - I'm not sure why they don't.
In rainy southern Ontario where we live,
an average-sized house would have over 25,000 gallons,
nearly 95,000 liters,
of rainwater landing on its roof each year.
That's around 20 to 25% of a household's annual water needs.
Just imagine if everyone had a rain barrel system.
That would take a huge amount of stress off of our water supply.
- You got one more thing to do though. - What?
You got to hook up the sink.
- Oh. Nut driver? - Have a nut driver.
I constantly kept thinking me and Kevin were flirting.
I was like, what is happening here?
( smooth jazz playing )
You always need a little bit of caulking.
How long does my pipe need to be?
- 45 inches. - Ooh, that's a honker.
It's weird, but, like, I like it.
Like, is that it? Okay. Okay.
Whew. Oh, my gosh.
- That's it. Simple as it is. - Okay.
I can wash dishes. I can water flowers. I want to be able to shower.
I can maybe even put a little bit of bleach in it?
- Absolutely. Treat it like a pool. - Treat it like a pool.
Now I feel like I can put an eavestrough on any house.
Kevin: All you got to do is wait for the rain now.
Greg: I know! I want it to rain so bad!
We have four segments together right now.
We're going to put all of those onto the final piece to finish the dew harvester.
Exhilarated, terrified, and excited?
I'm just really hoping that your research is real.
- Don't throw this on me. - This is a lot of pressure.
I'm happy I was the eavestrough guy.
How we doing?
Down? Are we high enough?
- Man: You can lower it. - Ready?
- Wow. - Yeah.
- Whoo! - Good job, everyone!
- Was that you? - Yeah.
I was like, "Oh!"
This is beautiful. I'm so proud of you.
Put this in MoMA, people. This is art.
I'm so excited to come in the morning and look.
So we want it to be cold tonight.
We want the air to cool enough
that it hits its dew point, drips down water,
and then we come into our beautiful blue bucket with hopefully water in it.
Greg: This is so cool.
Don't look at me. Ignore this.
But we're going to go check the dew harvester, night one.
Temperature didn't really drop last night,
so not super optimistic, but let's go see.
There she is. It's looking pretty dry.
- Nothing. - No!
Back to our regular pumping water,
and we'll be optimistic for the future.
Greg: I can't believe the conditions are just so incredible.
I feel very, very lucky.
I'm so excited because it's raining, so my practical build is being shown off.
- Mitch, I'm going to show you what we've done. - It's our first rain.
You can see the water is being collected in our eavestrough.
The water is coming down! So it comes over here.
And I've just sadly realized that we have an issue.
- What's wrong with it? - It's leaking.
- We need to actually fix this. - Just seal it?
Hopefully it rains again.
This is called a first flush.
So the first water that comes through
is going go down here, the dirty water.
Because the eavestrough itself will have had sediment,
- stuff sitting in it. - Yes.
If this was sealed, it's going to actually fill with the dirty water,
and then the clean water will just go over top of this.
Once it gets to the top.
But because this is leaking, we're not getting our water
going through to our collection tank.
- So we're losing all of this water right now. - Yes.
But if you listen, it is filling,
because this eavestrough's first flush is not leaking.
It is going in here. You can really feel it.
- Oh, my gosh. - It's pretty good.
It doesn't really feel like it's raining that much.
Makes you realize the surface area of a roof is actually so useful.
That's very cool.
We're going to go clear the dew tower
of all rain in the bucket because it's probably full of rain water.
- It's been a rain harvester. - So that tomorrow morning,
we can see-- the water that appears, if any, we know is from dew
and not just the previous rainwater.
Ugh. There's so many bugs on the edges.
- Oh, my God. - This is rainwater, so it doesn't count.
Supposed to be a clear night, so hopefully we'll get some dew water here tomorrow.
So as you can see, the structure has actually moved a couple of feet.
- Greg: Oh, my God. - We had a few storms. It's been raining for days.
but we finally had a really clear night last night. The temperatures dropped.
So we saw dew on the grass and we're going to check
how much has landed in the bucket.
- I'm nervous. - I'm nervous, too.
- Oh! Oh, my God. - Oh, my God.
There's actually water.
It's not 100 liters like I might've hoped for.
He put this down, because he's like, oh, there might be overflow.
No, it was in case this was going to move or whatever.
You literally told me it was because of overflow.
Okay, fine, it was because of overflow.
We've got this set up, so fingers crossed that over a course
of the right conditions, we'll get even more.
How many liters did yours collect?
Greg: 170 liters we got from that first rainstorm.
Either way, we reached our goal.
We've been brushing our teeth, washing our dishes,
doing everything we need to do with the rainwater.
We can add this to it.
This is also going to save us
from going to that creek.
Aah!
In our backyard and on our cabin,
we have much more easy access to water.
- I'm proud of you. - Thank you.
I know it's not as impressive, but this part--
- I think that's pretty impressive. - Yeah.
This whole experience of shutting off our water and then having to chase it
made me realize how often I just turn the top on and don't really think about it.
During this experience, I really noticed how much I drink.
And not that we need to conserve how much water we drink,
but I was just hyper aware of the importance of water.
I personally think that we should put a gray water collection system on our home,
use rainwater to actually water our garden.
Something as simple as a rain harvester just connects you more,
and I think that connection allows you to understand
why you should conserve it, and why it's important,
versus a magic tap that just turns on and it's infinite.
I'm honestly just so glad that it rained
because I don't really know what this experience would've been without that.
- A lot harder. - Yeah.
But the real reason we built these experiments
was to practice alternative ways to get water,
to leave these assets and builds
for the farm to use in the future,
and to educate ourselves on how to help
water-scarce regions on Earth.
In Jordan, they are working on refugee tents that harvest fog in the desert.
Locally made water filters of moringa seeds, sand,
and cotton are now stopping virus-contaminated water.
And Green New Deal style regulations that provide rebates and tax benefits
for rainwater collection systems are increasing around the world.
Water is a human right, so we need to insure that governments respect this
and tax corporations who are taking too much water
or even selling it for profit.
All in all, it is now that we need to start thinking about the climate crisis,
and how it relates to our fresh water,
the most important molecule on Earth.
I'm hot, I'm sweaty, and I'm ready to take a shower.
- I know I need to shower. - Oh. Yeah, we got a leak.
Oh, God. I can't go in that. Are you going to go in that?
You have to show you can do it. I'll pump the pump.
- Ready? - All right.
Aah! It spit on me over here.
- What the hell? - It's a trick to get him in.
Oh, my God. I hate this so much.
Your turn, Mitch. I did all this work for you.
Aah! Oh! Oh, no, no.
The shower feels, like, very rejuvenating,
all while being absolutely freezing.
- I actually hate this. - It's working though. Do you feel clean?
- Do you feel refreshed? - Yeah, I feel perfectly clean now.
I feel very proud.