Today, I found out via Gender and Water Alliance about a new technology to produce distilled water in arid areas. It’s called the Water Pyramid,and it was developed by a fellow named Martijn Nitzsche. There are two of these pyramids in India – one in the Kutch Desert of Gujarat and the other in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan. The pyramid stands about 30 feet high. Inside the pyramid, sunlight is used to distill brackish water for storage. At full capacity, the pyramid may produce up to 1,000 liters of water each day. There are still some problems to be worked out including the cost of the water and ensuring equitable access to the water. But it’s a step in the right direction, right.
Above Photo: Sunny Sebastian and The Hindu Newspaper
Water for the Ages 
The Water Pyramid is a great idea. It does seem expensive for large-scale deployment however. Same idea on a smaller scale is the Water Cone http://www.watercone.com/product.html. This may not be practical where the brackish water must be pumped from underground, but then maybe the PlayPumps could take care of that issue http://www.playpumps.org/site/c.hqLNIXOEKrF/b.2589393/k.30EE/The_PlayPump_System___How_the_PlayPump_Works.htm