Sun, salt and lime sounds like the beginnings of a cocktail recipe, but for some, it could mean cleaner, life-sustaining water.
In many developing countries, the only source of water is contaminated with viruses and bacteria. In fact, the United Nations estimates that 1 in 6 people don’t have access to enough fresh drinking water.
Pouring
water into clear plastic bottles and placing them in the sun can kill
disease causing organisms in about six hours. It’s a simple and cheap
method that’s been around forever, and it helps. (Who says sun tea isn’t safe?)
But
there’s a hitch – the water has to be clear enough for the sun’s rays
to penetrate – and much of the world’s water supply is murky from the
clay soils in riverbeds and lake bottoms that mix with the water. Enter
the scientists.
