VOA常速英语:Space-Age Shower Saves Water, Money

Showering typically sends water down the drain, but a new space-age shower could change that. The design, inspired by NASA, saves water and money.

Astronauts have no choice but to recycle the water they use in space. Now the OrbSys Shower of the Future brings that concept down to Earth. This futuristic shower comes from Orbital Systems, a Swedish advanced technology company. Its CEO, Mehrdad Mahdjoubi, invented the product.

"The shower of the future is a water-recycling shower, thus enabling water savings up to 90 percent, energy savings up to 80 percent, at the same time increasing comfort and hygiene. The water is being collected in the drain, it's being analyzed, purified and then pumped back up to the shower head. So what is so special about the purification technology? Well, it's based on a patented purification capsule system that makes sure that the water is always crystal clear," he explained.

Mahdjoubi was inspired by a project between NASA and Sweden's Lund University to come up with designs for a mission to Mars. He adapted the closed-loop system that allows astronauts to re-use shower water again and again.

The product already has been tested in Sweden, where it saved up to 100,000 liters of water over four months. Based on those results, Mahdjoubi is confident his company can distribute the shower system worldwide.

"Our market is anyone who takes a shower, actually, and the biggest benefit it gives is to the market segment where the water consumption is the highest, such as bathing establishments, gyms, sports centers. Also, private households where the water consumption and the prices are high," said Mahdjoubi.

The "out of this world" design has won several business and innovation awards.