Solar water disinfection (SODIS) has been around for quite some time now and with approx. over 340.000 users in Africa alone, this low budget water disinfection “technology” is a smart approach.
In areas where piped drinking water just isn’t available or of questionable quality, solar water disinfection is a cheap and effective method for decentralized water treatment as it can be applied at household level.
It is a simple method that’s easy to teach and is designed for small scale production.
SODIS uses solar radiation to destroy pathogenic microorganisms which cause water borne diseases: Sunlight is treating the contaminated water through two synergetic mechanisms: Radiation in the spectrum of UV-A (wavelength 320-400nm) and increased water temperature. If the water temperature raises above 50°C, the disinfection process is three times faster. (source)
The World Health Organization (WHO) even recommends SODIS as a viable method for household water treatment and safe storage.
All you will need are clean & transparent PET bottles, ?ll them up with water and expose them to direct sunlight for at least 6 hours.
Many people also put them on a corrugated roof (to increase temperature) and saturate the oxygen content inside the bottles prior to the sun treatment by ?lling them up three quarters, shaking them for 20 seconds with a closed cap on and then ?ll them up completely.
source: afrigadget.com
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