Water filtration system could provide clean water to over a billion people

Scientists have developed a machine that can transform dirty water into reliable and safe drinking water. 

The three-year, £700,000 project is a collaboration between the University of West England (UWE) Bristol and the Bose Institute in Kolkata, India.

The mobile treatment can purify hundreds of thousands of liters of water, the machine uses an ultra-filtration system to disinfect water, it removes any biological, agricultural and industrial contaminants.

The machine will be trialed in India before it is deployed across the country.

The work forms part of the India-UK Water Quality Programme, which aims to provide policymakers, regulators, business and local communities with solutions to clean water supply.

Recently, the World Bank said that water quality should be ‘urgent concern’ for countries.

Researchers at UWE have said that they hope that the machine will provide a solution to over one billion people across the planet.

Professor Darren Reynolds, lead scientists on the project, said: ‘With this treatment technology, we’re trying, in some small way, to help solve a big problem, that in the 21st century many people all over the world lack access to basic clean drinking water.

‘This machine is an industrial-scale piece of equipment which can be easily transported overseas and used to help whole communities by producing clean, safe drinking water from dirty or contaminated sources at the touch of a button.

‘Clean water should be available to everyone. Globally, at least two billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with faeces resulting in millions of deaths, mostly in children.

‘Our system is capable of treating freshwater, from sources including boreholes, rivers, ponds, and lakes, contaminated with bacteria and turning it into crystal clear drinking water.

‘In three weeks on campus, we have produced 300,000 litres, enough to fill 900,00 small plastic bottles!’

Dr. Bethany Fox, a post-doctoral research scientist working on the project in India said: ‘The response from local communities in India so far to the testing has been posting.

‘They’re really pleased we are out here making the effort to improve and understand the quality of their water.’

Photo Credit – Pixabay