Putting science
at the heart of development
Features
Finding a filter for arsenic-tainted water
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
18 February 2005 | EN
Arsenic in drinking water threatens tens of millions of people in Bangladesh
J. Holmes / FAO
Arsenic contamination of drinking water is a problem for tens of millions of people worldwide, mostly in the developing world.
In this article, Mark Clayton reviews the potential of the latest solutions in development. Finding a way to separate the arsenic from groundwater has proved difficult — the filter must be cheap and easy to make and maintain and local people must want to use it and it must possible to use it in different countries.
Gadgil has received US$250,000 to use the technology to remove arsenic from water in California, and hopes also to test it in Bangladesh or India.
Scientists have recently been given an extra incentive in the form of a US$1 million prize offered to researchers who invent a cheap and sustainable method of filtering arsenic-contaminated water (see US$1 million reward for solution to arsenic problem).
Add your comment
Please wait
All comments are subject to approval and we reserve the right to edit comments containing inappropriate/unsuitable language. SciDev.Net holds copyright for all material posted on the website. Please see terms of use for further details.
All SciDev.Net material is free to reproduce providing that the source and author are appropriately credited. For further details see Creative Commons.
.jpg){kind=spacer}
23 May 2013