Safe clean water for some of the poorest peoples in the world is being made possible by an under reported Australian invention.
Biologically infected water affects more than three quarters of a billion people
Solar disinfection (SODIS) is a process which is the cheapest form of water disinfection on the planet. Exposed for long enough to sunlight, UV rays will disinfect water by killing the harmful bacteria, viruses and micro-organisms in the water. But how can you tell if the water becomes safe to drink?
Enter the SODis sticker, invented by Medical Physics expert Martin Button of the water gift charity, and now a political project by Angliucan Aid at St parick’s Theological college in Madagascar.
“Butson told me that it was the physics of cancer treatment that gave him the idea of applying that to disinfecting water,” Anglican Aid’s Aid & Development Team Leader, Cameron Janson told the other cheek.
“The sticker itself is pretty simple. .you can see what it looks like in the photo belowThe middle square is a small patch made from a UV sensitive material that changes colour depending on the amount of UV it has received. When the square turns dark blue, as can be seen in the bottom sticker in the image, it means that there has been sufficient UV received to kill like 99.999% of biological contaminants (e.g. e.coli).”
“SODIS is a well known practice promoted by the WHO, however before this sticker there was no readily available way of making an objective measurement to ensure that enough UV was received to make the water safe to drink – so it is pretty revolutionary.”
Anglican Aid is planning to roll out the SODIS stickers to places where water borne disease is a problem. Kenya is likely the next place Anglican aid will use the stickers. Most communities use PET plastic bottles to collect or store water so the stickers take advantage of what is already is use. One sticker can be used to monitor a batch of bottles filled at the same time and kept in the same sunlit place.
The stickers will eliminate or dramatically reduce the incidence of water-borne diseases from drinking water at a very low cost. It will cost about $1,000 to provide sufficient safe stickers for 100 people for a year.
Image credit:thewatergift.org