Water conservation has been a widely encouraged practice for the better part of six or seven decades. Though along the way various forms of water transport and purification have sprung up, making life a little easier for people in climates that often experience droughts or simply live in deserts, it still remains an important part of day-to-day life in some of those. Most denizens of cities are probably familiar with the idea, but as most modern cities are well-plumbed, it doesn't add up to quiet the level of importance.

In Europe, according to English nongovernmental organization Waterwise, the water used by washing machines in the UK has risen 23 percent in the last 15 years, accounting for some 13 percent of daily consumption. Overall, the daily usage weighs in at around 455 million liters.

While 13 percent doesn't seem like a great deal and some may say that other things, like sanitary appliances should be examined for efficiency first, being more wasteful on the whole, the fact that nearly every single resident of a village, town, burb or city will have to at some point wash clothes, a more efficient machine to do so could be well-received in many locals.

Enter the Xeros. The washing machine, developed at the University of Leeds, breaks all previous efficiency records. It uses just a single cup of water for an entire load. The revolutionary machine could be in production as early as next year, according to Xeros Ltd, a company created specifically to develop and market the appliance.

Instead of soaking the load in water and detergent, the Xeros uses about 20 kilograms of small plastic chips to gather dirt and other particles which are dissolved by the single cup of water throughout the wash cycle. The chips measure about half a centimeter in size and though the developers recommend using fresh chips in each load, can be reused up to 100 times.

“This is one of the most surprising and remarkable technologies I've encountered in recent years,” said Dr. Rob Rule, director of Xeros Ltd. “Xeros has the ability to save billions of litres of water per year and, we believe, the potential to revolutionise the global laundry market.”

Source from DailyTech