Clean Water, New Industry
The world’s 2 billion people without access to clean, safe water may have a simple solution soon at hand: a ceramic filtration device made using local clay and sawdust.
The PureMadi filters (madi is the Tshivenda South African word for water) are coated with silver nanoparticles that can filter out 99.9% of waterborne pathogens, including E. coli.
The filters were developed by the University of Virginia in partnership with University of Venda in Thohoyandou, South Africa, and the nonprofit FilterPure Inc. The project’s first goal is to establish a dozen factories in South Africa to produce 100,000 filters a year, with profits returned to local communities.
Source: University of Virginia, www.virginia.edu.
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