Patent ID: 7008515

Claim:
A solar water still, comprising: a) an enclosure assembly having i) an inner float barrier that surrounds an evaporation area, ii) a collection reservoir that surrounds the inner float barrier for collecting distilled water, iii) a dome that is substantially transparent to solar radiation and that encloses the collection reservoir, the inner float barrier, and the evaporation area; and b) an evaporation assembly located in the evaporation area and having an evaporative surface; wherein the enclosure assembly (a) is configured to float on a body of source water; wherein the evaporation assembly (b) comprises: i) a buoyant insulator that is configured to float on the source water, the insulator being substantially flat and having a top surface and a bottom surface, wherein the top surface is thermally insulated from the bottom surface and forms the evaporative surface; and ii) a wick material that extends from the top evaporative surface toward the bottom surface for transporting source water to the evaporative surface; and wherein the evaporative surface is covered with black carpet; wherein the black carpet is the wick material and covers the evaporative surface; and wherein the black carpet hangs over the edge of the buoyant insulator for contacting the source water.