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Solar Disinfection of Drinking Water
Reliance on unsafe drinking water is a significant problem in many areas of the world. This Catalyst article looks at the method of solar disinfection to provide safe drinking water.
UVA from the sun causes a breakdown in cellular functions, and combined with the increased temperature of the water from a mini-greenhouse effect inside the bottle, many pathogens are killed or reduced drastically. Convective processes within the bottle mean that the water circulates and so all the water will be exposed to the UVA over time. The last section of the article looks at the pros and cons of the process.
The article is written by Kevin McGuigan, a physicist and Senior Lecturer in the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland.
The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2012, Volume 23, Issue 2.
Catalyst is a science magazine for students aged 14-19 years. Annual subscriptions to print copies of the magazine can be purchased from Mindsets.
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