« That's a good idea | Main | Someone beat me to it »
September 19, 2005
We haven't found all the good, cheap ideas yet II
Back in August we talked about a cheap, water filtering. drinking straw. More than 3.4 million people die each year as a result of water related diseases, making it the leading cause of disease and death around the world.
Another cheap and brilliant solution makes headlines this week at treehugger. Boiling water is a low tech and widely available method of sterilizing water. However, the water needs to hang out at 150 degrees for a few minutes before it is safe. But how to know exactly when it is safe? For the world's ultra poor, fuel is scarce and (dirty wood or dung mostly), any filtration technique has to use as little as possible to be practical.
Professor Bosscher of the University of Madison, WI figured out a great solution. He impeded a small wax bead in a sealed glass tube. The tube goes in a string in the water vessel, and the wax melts when the water is safe. Flip the tube to reuse it.
Posted by OneEyedMan at September 19, 2005 10:44 AM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)