vtsnowedin wrote:The first question is there any contaminated water that can be distilled..
There is enough sea water around the islands. They don't need to use contaminated water.
vtsnowedin wrote: The second question is how much do they need for the people, the sacred cows and other livestock and to irrigate their crops.
The people do need most probably between 3-5 Liter per day just for drinking.
Cows and other livestock do need a lot more (75 kg man = 3 Liter, 400 kg cow = 400/75 * 3 Liter = 16 Liter per day). So why not start a solar destilation plant factory?
The people in Palau as well in California should have known since last summer that a big El Nino Event is coming, so they should have been prepared in different ways (e.g. by planting drought resistent crops). Trees can spend shade and lower temperatures by transpiration. In this area with very high solar insulation trees are always a very good "tool" to enhance agrarian situations.
vtsnowedin wrote: Then do the math and see how much of that need can be supplied by the solar distillers that they have room and materials enough to build.
Houses do have roofs. Schools and gyms do have big roofs as well as factorys. How expensive is wood and glas or plastic tubes?
How expensive would it be to leave their homes? Can't they get money (credits) from World Bank, nearby Philippines, Indonesia or United States:
Palau
The government is the largest employer, relying heavily on U.S. financial assistance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palau#EconomyWhen it is possible to build such big bridges in Palau,
then it should be possible to build many small or also big (on factory roofs) solar destilation plants.
Of course it's quite late if the well's run dry in two weeks or so, but it is possible for sure to ship in bottled water for some weeks till there are enough solar desalination plants are built.