How nanotechnology could be used to clean water in Nevada

Sat, Apr 28, 2018 (2 a.m.)

Nanotechnology could soon help clean up almost all of the dirty water in Northern Nevada, making it safe to drink, Lance Gilman, the partner broker of the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Complex, said this week on "Nevada Newsmakers."

“Think in terms, for a minute, of being able to take all the water that is here and literally, effectively and competitively, clean it to drinking water standards,” Gilman said, adding the new technology could also clean wastewater from households.

“Everything,” he said, “including salt water.”

Gilman sees many benefits for Northern Nevada water systems from nanotechnology, an engineering science that deals with matter on the atomic, molecular and supramolecular scale. Nanomembranes can neutralize bacteria and impurities in water.

Nanotechnology could help Gilman’s top tenants at the industrial complex, including Tesla, Switch, Apple and Google, which use large amounts of water. A nanotechnology campus also is planned at the complex.

“If you take Switch, if you take Google, or Apple, for example, they have a lot of water that has been exhausted and that they use a number of times,” Gilman said. “And it needs to be cleaned up in an efficient and competitive way. Now all of a sudden, here comes nanotechnology.”

Back to top

SHARE