Low-Cost Water Purification

Drinking WaterCommon Kitchen Ingredient Helps Clean Drinking Water

If clean water is that easy, why are so many people, especially young children, dying from diseases contracted by drinking unclean water? There is a major obstacle to effective use of SODIS: if the water is muddy or murky, pathogens can hide in the shadows of the particulates, avoiding the death-rays of the sun.

But Brittney Dawney, a student at Queen’s University of Ontario, and Joshua Pearce, associate professor at Michigan Technological University, believe this problem can be solved with an everyday item from the kitchen shelf: table salt.

Read more at Treehugger, by Christine Lepisto.

Recipe For Safer Drinking Water? Add Sun, Salt And Lime

“Basically, you need to be able to read a newspaper through it. That means it’s clear enough for the UV radiation to penetrate and kill the pathogens. If you can’t see through it, it just won’t work,” explains Joshua Pierce [sic], associate professor of materials science and engineering at Michigan Tech.

Read more at NPR, by Gretchen Cuda Kroen.

This Guy Is Making Dirty Water Safe To Drink By Using A Common Kitchen Ingredient

According to Michigan Tech, “nearly 80 percent of disease in developing countries is linked to bad water and sanitation” and diarrhea kills 4,000 children a day in Africa.

Read more at Business Insider, by Michael Kelley.

A gram of salt helps treat murky water

The salt binds to contaminants in the water and clumps them together so they can be removed, after which the water is usually clear enough that it can undergo a low-tech, cheap and widely available cleansing method called solar water disinfection.

Read more at CBC News.