NEWS
2829 Archive

2018.01.23

The specialists presented a one-time test for the potability of drinking water

Experts from the British University of Bath presented a one-time test that verifies the suitability of drinking water. Experts emphasize that this will help save thousands of lives in Africa. The tester itself looks like litmus paper, but the color change signals not about the value of the acidity of water, but about the presence of harmful impurities.

According to the assessment of WaterAid, today about 850 million inhabitants of the Earth experience a shortage of clean water. In the materials of the charitable organization it is noted that the intake of bacteria contaminated with water causes the death of children every 2 minutes. A one-time test will cost a little less than $ 1.3, but it can save lives.

The development is a paper with graphite electrodes and a layer of electrically conductive bacteria. The strip changes its own color during the reaction to the presence of toxic chemicals, heavy metals, herbicides, and other inconspicuous dirt.

Such tests can be applied even in the territory of developed countries. This will help to understand the situation with water quality in remote settlements, help tourists, as well as rescuers during emergency situations, which can lead to contamination of drinking water supplies. To date, employees at the University of Bath are working on integrating the chip into a test strip to transfer data analysis to electronic systems. This will make it possible to display data in a more familiar form, and also to accumulate statistics.

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http://science.gov.az/news/open/7239