The world is rapidly reaching global water crisis mode with nearly one billion people lacking access to clean potable water. But a new solar-powered invention can turn seawater into drinking water – and may turn this dire situation around in a hurry.

In the underdeveloped nations of the world, native women travel for miles to local rivers and transport clean water back to their villages in baskets on their heads. The lack of potable water is the cause of typhoid fever and other dreaded maladies stemming from environmental neglect and abject poverty.