Could This Low-Cost Device Provide Clean Drinking Water To Those In Need?

Engineers have created an upgraded solar still that uses carbon paper and the sun to purify water at an unprecedented rate

By Emily Matchar

smithsonian.com 

Worldwide, some 850 million people lack access to clean drinking water. Contaminated water transmits a huge variety of diseases, including cholera, dysentery and typhoid, causing more than half a million deaths a year.

Researchers at the University at Buffalo have developed a solar water purifier they hope can sanitize water more quickly, cheaply and effectively than other models.

“Solar energy is basically free,” says Qiaoqiang Gan, a professor of engineering who led the research. “In some countries in tropical areas, they are short of resources but they have an abundance of solar energy.”