I first thought of the idea of freeze dried water while on a camping trip with a friend. We had just hiked about eight miles along a mountain trail, and had found a nice clearing in the woods to pitch our tent. My friend had brought with some freeze dried beef stew and some freeze dried spaghetti and spaghetti sauce.
We were so hungry we started eating before the food had fully finished cooking. It was then that the idea of freeze dried water first came to mind.
All through those eight miles of hiking the weight of the water bottles in my back pack felt heavier and heavier on my shoulders. If only there were a way of dehydrating water to make it lighter.
Then it occurred to me in a flash. If camping stores sold freeze dried water then we wouldn't have to carry so much weight on our backs. When we needed water for cooking or drinking, we could just open up one of the freeze dried water packets and just add water.
Well, by the next day I had the idea all figured out. Freeze dried water packets could be produced in large factories. On the outside of the packets would be pretty pictures of waterfalls and sparkling, bubbly blue water. On the inside of the packets would be shiny aluminum foil, placed right on top a plastic inner liner. In the very middle of the packets would be the concentrated freeze dried water.
The freeze dried water would almost be invisible. That's because the water would be dehydrated so well in our factories that only the very essence of the water would remain.
But hikers and campers would only be the beginning. NASA would be interested in buying freeze dried water to send up with the astronauts on the space shuttle. The Red Cross would be interested in buying freeze dried water to distribute to families during droughts. Sailors would be interested in buying freeze dried water to take out with them to sea.
Imagine how much financial savings NASA would have if they could use freeze dried water, rather than heavy tap water. Imagine how many lives could be saved in a drought if the Red Cross stockpiled thousands and thousands of packets of freeze dried water. And think of the convenience to sailors to have packets of freeze dried water right on the ship with them.
They say that necessity is the mother of invention. As I was hiking those eight long miles with the heavy water bottles bouncing around in my back pack, I knew that a great moment of invention was about to occur. Who could have thought that such a great invention would have such humble beginnings?
Phil Shapiro
Copyright 1995
All Rights Reserved
[This story may be freely copied and distributed for noncommercial purposes. In particular, it may be freely used for any freeeware or shareware software projects. (I'd love to see a copy of anything you make with this.)
I'd be happy to communicate with any software development companies interested in producing multimedia stories. I've written a bunch of stories that lend themselves to multimedia presentation.
Internet: pshapiro@his.com]