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Soda Bottles,
Sunlight Can Save Lives,
WHO Says
GENEVA-
A do-it-yourself technique of disinfecting water with sunlight and
soft-drink bottles could save hundreds of thousands of lives a year,
the World Health Organization said Thursday. In a campaign to reduce
deaths from unhealthy water in developing countries, the UN
health agency is promoting a nearly cost-free process called
Solar Water Disinfection, or SODIS, Requiring only sunlight, empty
plastic soft-drink bottles and a black surface, it costs almost
nothing, said Martin Wegelin, a researcher at the Swiss Institute
for Environmental Science and Technology. The process is simple:
Transparent bottles are filled with water and placed horizontally on
a flat surface for about five hours.
The
heat and ultraviolet rays of the sun kill illness-causing
microorganisms in polluted water. Unlike the boiling of water, this
method requires no fuel. "Some 2.5 million people die from
drinking unsafe water every year," said WHO Director of the
department of Health and Environment Richard Helmer. The method is
even more effective when the bottom half of the bottle is painted
black or placed on a black sheet of corrugated iron or plastic,
which absorbs more heat and kills more pathogens.
(AP)
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