It is unpleasant to be without water for hours, but most of us don’t know what it is like to not have access to clean water for our whole life. In many places the water is so contaminated that it is nearly impossible to drink.
A researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, at the United States, created a water filter that is a book. The pages are detachable and contain copper and silver nanoparticles. As the bacteria travel paper filter, they absorb these particles and die. Filter kills 99% of bacteria and has been tested on African water samples. Despite the success of the product, there is still no industrial process for such books, they are made manually by her and the students. They also lack further studies on the filter effectiveness for viruses and protozoa. The product has a great potential, it’s cheap, easy to use and can still contain information on pages (after all, it’s a book!)
In Kenya, the population already has an ATM, but instead of money, it provides clean water. The initiative is called AQtap. There the problem is not access to water, because the population already paid for it. What happens is that the controllers of the taps not necessarily pass the money raised for the improvements of the system as it should be done. Thus, the company explains that all the money raised by the ATM is reinvested to improve the quality of system supply and enables data collection for action planning. Still in pilot phase.
Also from Africa, there is a plant that provides clean water. Moringa is regarded as miraculous, it contains more calcium than cow’s milk, more iron than spinach and has high concentration of vitamins A and C and potassium. It is already used for years by local populations for feeding and treatment of stomach aches and even malaria. Not only that, their seeds (pictured below) when crushed and mixed into the water can make it clean, thanks to its characteristic to attract clay and bacteria.
Also inspired by the food industry for there is the pasteurized shower. During the process, water that flows down the drain is cleared, reused and pass through the shower again. The process consumes only 3 litres and when the bath ends the system drops the water and the next user is in no danger of getting wet with it. The process is the same used in sterilization of milk industry.
It is similar to the system created by the Brazilian Pedro Ricardo Paulino, which sterilizes the shower with ultraviolet and ozone and when the shower ends it forwards water to the toilet, allowing it to be used again.
There is no miracle, innovations do their part, but we still need to do ours. Continue saving to always have clean water.
References: Geek, FastCo Design, Hypeness, Science Target, Moringa News, E-cycle, Noctula Channel
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