A cheap and easy method of water purification is created
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Approximately 80% of diseases in developing countries are due to poor sanitation and dirty water. As a result, experts from the Michigan Scientific and Technical Institute created an easy and cheap method of purifying water. The role of the cleaner in this case is the usual salt.
According to the existing method called "the method of solar water disinfection" (SODIS), today residents of developing countries pour dirty water into transparent plastic bottles and leave under the open sun for 6 hours. During this time, the warmth of the sun's rays and ultraviolet radiation kill the bulk of the pathogens causing diarrhea, which every day kills about 4,000 African children. But this method of purifying water does not work if the water is dirty and contains a suspension of clay particles. And most residents of developing countries, as a rule, have access only to similar water in rivers and wells. "If you do not get rid of clay in the water, SODIS does not work," explains Joshua Pearce, the institute's teacher. - The smallest organisms hide under clay particles and thus avoid the action of solar radiation. Therefore, before cleaning this water, it is necessary to ensure that all clay settles to the bottom - this process is called flocculation. "
During the experiment Pierce and his assistants made sure that sodium chloride or ordinary table salt could help quickly precipitate clay. It is quite inexpensive and can be found virtually everywhere. At the same time cleansing turbid water with salt takes very little time. However, even here there is a "but": the salt precipitates only one type of clay called bentonite and weakly copes with the contamination of other clay variants. However, if you add a pinch of salt and a little bit of bentonite to the suspension of other varieties of clay, the flocculation procedure will go faster and the water will be suitable for cleaning with SODIS. Scientists continue to study the quality of the various types of clay and salt found in Africa in order to create a more efficient method of purifying drinking water.
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