May All Thirsts Be Quenched Everywhere

Season’s Greetings

+

 The Very Best of Wishes

For Extreme Delight and Joy

To Become Routine

For You and Yours

In Twenty-Thirteen!

263 Rivers on Land and 1 River in the Air!

Rivers are the oldest source of freshwater for humans, most ecosystems and most living species.
River Basins
A river basin is the land area from where water drains to feed rivers. The 263 river basins of significant rivers are fed by 45.3% of the land surface area of Earth. The 26 major river basins are shown in the graphic.

26 Largest river basins on Earth
Cartographer - Delphine Digout, UNEP/GRID-Arendal

Arid Areas
The most arid areas are those that do not have enough water i.e. are areas that are not in river basins: Southern California in The US, Western and Central Australia, The Mediterranean sections of Europe, North Africa and others are the  most arid areas on Earth.
The Missing but Largest River of all

Rainfed Agricuture
Source - fao.org

When land areas that serve as river basins are compared with those where rainfed agriculture is predominant, it becomes apparent that much of the water fed into rivers is water delivered by rain.
In a manner of visualization, rain too can be seen as a river in the air or atmosphere.
As is to be expected, the river in the air differs from the rivers that are on the surface of land:
- The river in the air is mobile and is subject to the movements of air streams (that carry the water in this river) in the atmosphere. Land based rivers are, over short periods of time, fixed in space.
- The river in the air is the original river of fresh water that feeds a land-based rivers.
100% of the water in rivers on land is in liquid for, while only 2% of the water in the river in the air is in liquid form. 98% of the water in the air exists as water vapor.

It is this river in the air, that we must find a way to tap when we seek to extract water in the air we breathe.

The Most Water Loving Molecule in Nature: Hyaluronan

In some organisms 90% of their weight comes from the water that is in the organism. Human babies and kids have the most water (about 78%) which drops to 60-65% when they become adults. Adult women generally have less water than men do.

Human bodies and water

Source - ec.gc.ca

Every part of the human body is predominantly made up of freshwater.

Our physical body simply would not exist if freshwater did not exist.

We also would not exist for very long if we could not replenish the water lost by the human body. Continued availability of freshwater is absolutely necessary for humans and other life-forms to continue to exist.

But what keeps all this water together in the human body?

Hyaluronan

Source - vitanetonline.com

The "glue" keeping all this water in our bodies is a carbohydrate called Hyaluronan.

The average 154 lb. person has roughly 15 grams of hyaluronan occurring naturally and distributed over all parts of the human body.

Its consistent function in the human body is to bind with water and hold the water for use in individual cells of the human body.

Hyaluronan has a half-life of about 3-days in all organs of the body except in the skin where it's half-life is just about a day. As Hyaluronan decays more supplies are biologically synthesized in specialized areas of the human body,

Commercial Applications

Source - bueatyinthebag.com

Hyaluronan can be synthetically created and is the predominant ingredient in skin care products. As human skin ages, it looses its ability to hold large amounts of hyaluronan i.e. the skin is no longer as hydrated as young skin and shows wrinkles and feels drier when touched.

Now that we can commercially produce hyaluronan, can we use its water-loving (hydrophilic) properties to extract water vapor from the air we breathe?