Water for the World
>> Sunday, February 15, 2009
Fifteen students at the University of Iowa did something pretty amazing recently. When faced with a challenge in an engineering class, lack of clean drinking water for 1/6th of the population on earth, the students came up with something remarkable. What started as a class project, led them to create an EPA winning award and recognition at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Chicago yesterday.
What was this amazing invention? A hand-held water sanitizer for a cost of about $5 a piece. The students won $75,000 in awards and are hoping to use this to reach even more people. The students are already working with resident in Xicotepec, Mexico and want to add Gahna to the list of places they want to impact. These water sanitizers will not only bring drinking water to people who normally don't have access to clean sources, but by doing so, can drasticaly increase the standard of living for many people and make their lives healthier one drop at a time.
Photo from Theilr's photostream on Flickr and used under Creative Commons.
Photo from Theilr's photostream on Flickr and used under Creative Commons.
8 comments:
That's really awesome. sFor $5 a piece, that just blows my mind. sThose students definitely deserved the recognition.
It really is fantastic. This one little thing will drastically change how people live in many places that we "rich folk" (comparitively speaking) occassionally forget about. I'm really excited for them.
This is amazing and wonderful. I just heard how Mexico city has run out of water!
I have a water filter on my tap. Even tho I live in the US I know my water is not clean!
sI think at some point humans will stop poisoning Mother Earth, killing her bugs and native plants...no poisons!
I am so happy these students have won the award and are making a difference.
Hugs to the butterflies...
Sherry
it really is great! if only people would leave well enough alone, right? and i am at the farm right now so I will let them know! hugs to you as well.
Alright!s Students rock!s I hope this will make a difference to those who have no proper drinking water.
s
Can you explain how this sanitizer works? I've heard of other, low-cost water filters intended for Third World use, but they don't seem to get a lot of traction.
It converts salt into chlorine. I got this from the U of Iowa website:
s
"We came up with a device that produces chlorine bleach from salt water. It's the same system we use in the United States, but it's miniaturized and made more affordable for poor people. So they can remove biological contaminants from the drinking water and prevent millions of needless deaths by preventable diseases such as diarrhea every year."
s
s
s
s
They are working with Engineers for a Sustainable World to help with distributing. Really neat stuff.
Post a Comment