Purify water by adding bacteria
Sabin Holland, lead scientist for the bacteria-based water purification system.
(Credit: Sam Houston State University)
Fans of old Chinese martial arts dramas will have heard of the saying "use poison to combat poison". Personally, we've always considered that as ridiculous. Turns out that idea is ahead of its time, as now you can purify water using bacteria.
Forget what you know about bacteria and germs. Bacteria is not evil, it's just another simple organism trying to survive and propagate. Sam Houston State University researchers have successfully designed a portable water purification system that uses a set of common bacterial strains to create potable water in less than a day. This is impressive as current systems require up to a month and create toxic waste as a byproduct.
How this works is that the bacteria filters the water, then consumes the sludge which would otherwise have ended up as toxic waste in conventional water-purification machines. Afghanistan and Haiti form the first test beds for this system, but already we can see how this could revolutionize water distribution in arid areas.
Via Wired and Sam Houston State University
About the author
Tracking laptop and PC trends since 2005, Darius Chang may have been knee deep in bits and bytes but is certainly not a binary person. Under that big and soft exterior holds a marshmallow core which dotes on his god-daughters and nephew. Suspected of ADD, his interests span disparate fields such as sustainability studies, diving, sports, politics, etc. A true jack of all trades, but master of one (maybe two).
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