Best innovations for clean drinking water
It is estimated that more than one in seven people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water. Developing and underdeveloped countries constitute most of these people. In India, for example, more than 10% of people are consuming contaminated water.
The government has implemented various policies to address this issue, but they are also restricted by budget and various other constraints. So in this article, I will explore the best work by private players like NGO’s, corporations, or individuals.
The most impactful product has been the P&G purifier of water. It was created by Philip souter, who was working at P&G, trying to find a product that can clean dirt from laundry water and invented a world-changing product. Four grams of this powder can clean ten litres of contaminated water. The product has the capability to work on the dirtiest water.
The cleaning process has three steps- coagulation, flocculation and chlorination. The first step is coagulation, and this involves cleaning the big radius impurities. Dirt particles are positively charged and the coagulant used are negatively charged ions; these two things attract, and that results in larger particles. The second step is flocculation. This step involves small rope-like polymers that wrap around the dust particles formed in step one. After flocculation, the resulting particles become big and dense, thus settling down in the bottom layer. So after step two, the dust particles settle in the bottom of the liquid. The last step is disinfection, and in this step, the smaller particles or the microorganisms are taken care of. The powder can kill up to 99.99% of bacteria and viruses in dirty water. So the water is processed in three steps and becomes safe to drink in just a few minutes using only 4gms of powder. An estimate this powder has been used to filter 400 billion litres of drinking water.
Another impactful product is the Lifestaw. A simple straw-like structure that can be placed in dirty water and the water that comes out of the other end is safe to drink — this technology usees Lifestaw micro-membrane and ultrafilter membrane. The microfilters have a pore size of 0.2 microns, while the ultrafilters have a pore size ten times smaller that is 0.02 microns. This is for filtering out viruses and bacteria. The staw also contains activated carbon to improve the taste and smell of filtered water. The process is called adsorption when contaminants become blocked inside the porous structure of carbon.
Government policies and budgets are the most critical factors in improving the water situation. Still, innovation by private players comes in when the government cannot provide clean drinking water in all parts of the country due to a variety of reasons. There are hundreds of impactful products other than the two mentioned above. These products are generally invented and manufactured in developed nations for usage in poorer countries. This dynamic can be seen as charity or help, but there are other aspects involved here.
Water, food and air are the three basic human needs. The early humans spent all their time worrying only about these three things, so humans did not innovate or invent anything significant for lakhs of years. When civilization started and we had people who made food and water accessible to all, the others could focus on improving other aspects of living. But even today, when we have come so far, some people still struggle with basic things like drinking water. All their energy and resources are spent on getting basic and like food and water. This takes away their ability to do anything else that can turn out to be helpful to humanity. If someone motivated to work hard and has the intelligence to change the world is busy getting water and food for his family, then that potential is wasted. If such innovations reach developing countries, they can get their youth to work for higher causes like medicine, engineering, or any other practice that can improve their lives. If more people are working on significant issues that we as a humanity are trying to solve, that gives us more chances of solving them. Making basic amenities available for someone can change their lives for the better, and there is a good chance that they will change the world for the better.
