Tuesday, July 24, 2012

sciencesoup:

Water Purification—A Young Scientist’s Answer

“People are dying because there is no low-cost portable solution for clean drinking water,” writes Sabera Talukder, a sixteen-year-old junior at Los Gatos High School, California. “The top 40 waterborne diseases kill 3.4 million people every year, mostly children.” While visiting Bangladesh with her family in 2011, Talukder decided to help, collecting and testing water samples to reveal that the top waterborne diseases included bacterial, parasitic, viral and protozoal infections. Then, spending less than $25, she created a water purification system. It consisted of a jute bag filled with clay to filter solid materials like twigs, leaves and mud out of the water, a brass or copper mesh to kill insect larvae, a UVc light to kill bacteria, a filter for the membranes and organelles of the dead bacteria, and 30-watt solar panels to power the system. Talukder’s simple but effective project was one of fifteen finalists in the international Google Science Fair competition, and although she recognises that the system is not yet perfect, she hopes to return to Bangadesh soon to implement her project in three different locations. As she puts it, the people suffering don’t need perfection—“the people need a solution now.”

Check out the rest of the amazing young finalists

Posted at 9:03 PM 406 notes Reblogged from sciencesoup

Notes

  1. b-o-d-japan reblogged this from theantidote
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  4. stevecoxesq reblogged this from sciencesoup and added:
    Check out this young sixteen year old scientists...developing world. #science...
  5. howtodoreferences reblogged this from bothersomeboredom
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  8. clouds-ab0vee reblogged this from p-hosphene-s
  9. eg-squad reblogged this from businessbot and added:
    I call bullshit. Car battery, UVc Light, and a solar panel and she spent under $25? Who are you and what are you...
  10. businessbot reblogged this from wildcat2030
  11. frozenchrysalis reblogged this from thepith
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  16. thenelsontwins reblogged this from turtalia and added:
    — — — —My old friend Ed was working on a water purification system in Africa that was pretty much a 5 gallon bucket, a...
  17. spontaneouscake reblogged this from turtalia and added:
    Ah, this is so great, and so important.
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