Washington DC: In a breakthrough discovery, researchers at the University of Virginia’s Center for Global Health have developed ‘The Drinkable Book’, which is a nanotechnology-based method to purify drinking water and can eliminate water-borne bacteria.
Theresa Dankovich, one of the researchers, found that sheets of thick filter paper embedded with silver nanoparticles could purify drinking water, eliminating a wide variety of microorganisms, including bacteria and some viruses.
Dankovich said they wanted to see if the filters would work on ‘real water’ in Africa and not water purposely contaminated in the lab.
They found millions of bacteria in a place where raw sewage had been dumped.
She said that we could achieve 99.9 % purity with their silver- and copper-nanoparticle paper, bringing bacteria levels comparable to those of U.S. drinking water.
She added that some silver and copper would leach from the nanoparticle-coated paper, but the amount lost into the water was within minimal values and well below Environmental Protection Agency and World Health Organisation drinking water limits for metals.
Dankovich further said that many people use a five-gallon bucket for many needs worldwide, so they were basing their approach on that type of container.