One of the foremost necessities in areas that have been ravaged by natural disasters is clean drinking water, but if treatment plants aren’t operational, the only expedient way to manage that problem is trucking in emergency shipments of bottled water.
But a team of researchers in the Lone Star State may soon have a solution that utilizes local water sources.
The team, based in the University of Texas, has created a battery-powered device that cleans pond, stream or river water, eliminating 99.997% of E. coli bacteria in about 20 minutes in a mug-sized cube.
“When our water infrastructure is down – no water, no gas and no electricity – we need point-of-use devices for cleaning water we can get out of ponds, streams or rivers,” project-leader Dr. Emma Fan said in a news release. “We believe our device can someday fill that need.”
If successful, the product could revolutionize the process of recovery following major storms or earthquakes.
The next step, researchers say, will be to streamline the product’s design and find ways to commercialize their invention.
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