Monday 19 November 2012

I’ve Life, in my bag!!


The scarcity of clean drinking water is quite evident, as the number of people reported dying around the globe due to the scant clean drinking water is increasing every year. One of the worst effected regions is sub-Saharan Africa, where clean water can be several days walk away. The need of producing an affordable and simple method of purifying water which doesn’t rely on first or second-world amenities, just as steady electricity supply, has always been a challenge. But a dexterous prototype device named ‘Solar Bag’, created by two young researchers in North Wales Ryan and Marcus tried to offer hope doing just this.

The ‘Solar Bag’ uses the (solar water disinfection) method of water purification, which like PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles, which were filled in with unclear and dirty water and left in the open sunlight. Following exposure to direct UV-A radiation of the Sun, A major amount of germs and bacteria contained within the water are eventually eliminated, rendering the water safe to drink.
However, PET bottles were not adequately plausible when it comes to quantity. It can purify and had a maximum of three liters of capacity per every six hours of sunlight; the Solar Bag's on the other hand is believed to have a commendable combination of high clarity polyethylene and black polyethylene plus a remarkable capacity to purify 2.5 gallons (9.4 liters) in the same time-span. According to both researchers, the bag would also help in transporting more amount of water and the purification process will start when being transported

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These two differences might not seem really big but these two factors can save lives, the Solar Bag project is an exciting project, which shows great prospects even in this early stage of development. “Keeping the mind the cause we are working the bags would cost somewhere around 3 to 5US$” Marcus.