Slashdot Mirror
Researchers Develop "Tea Bag" Water Filter
cybernanga writes "A group of researchers in South Africa has developed a filter that can purify water straight from the bottle. The filter sits inside a tube fitted on top of a bottle and purifies water as it is poured on a cup. From the article: 'The designer behind the filter, Dr Eugene Cloete, from the Stellenbosch University in South Africa, says the filter is only as big as an ordinary tea bag. He says the product is cost-effective and easy to use. "We are coming in here at the fraction of the cost of anything else that is currently on the market," says Dr Cloete on BBC World Service.'"
The Brita pitchers are only intended to improve the taste of tap water by taking out chlorine and calcium, not to actually purify unsafe water.
With those prices and 3rd world exchange rates, they'll never develop their economies! They'd be in perpetual debt for water bottles.
Even Britta costs a fraction of that, and, of course, chlorine bleach (as a pre-treatment to kill bacteria)is dirt cheap.
Meanwhile, a solar still can be made with a bucket, a plastic sheet, and some manual labor. Unlike a filter, it will continue to produce clean safe water year after year with no expendable. The construction technique is simple enough that adult supervised children can do it (and learn a science lesson in the process with an immediate application).
The developed world seems to have a bias against such solutions that don't make the 3rd world dependent on a continuous stream of "manna from heaven" in the form of manufactured goods. Part of that seems to be a bit of Marie Antoinette syndrome (just can't imagine a place where such cheap ubiquitous materials are expensive and rare). Part is that people imagine that accountant run businesses will lay off their drive for profit just a bit for the sake of humanitarian aid (they won't). Perhaps part because they might then start growing their own economy rather than becoming dirt cheap labor for our clothing industry.
Meanwhile, much of the problem will stop when the developed world kindly stops selling greedy warlords automatic weapons and all the ammo they can carry.