Clean water which is free of bacteria is really rare to find in third world countries. Yes the people drink muddy water and still live but 85% of the population dies. In most places muddy and sludge is the only option of drinking water. Now if you think that the title is crazy, then you are missing the latest technological discovery. This is the application of the knowledge of copper utensils purifying water known very well by our ancestors.
The discovery by Dr. Theresa Dankovich in Montreal is the answer to all the water related problems of the world. It is as simple as the filter paper tests done by students in a college and very effective in cleaning the water. The water becomes 99% free of all kind of germs thanks to the Copper nano particles in the paper. It is a book which can be used to purify water and it is inexpensive. It is being popularly called as the drinkable book. There is no need of chemicals to treat even the muddiest water. You just have to follow simple science.
The pages of the drinkable book are infused with nanoparticles of copper and silver and both are antibacterial. You just have to dip one page of the book in the water to purify it. This is a novel way to distribute the benefits of copper to the third world. This is the first time these metals have been put into paper for purifying drinking water. After graduating from McGill University in Montreal where this novel research started, it continued when Dankovich pursued research at University of Virginia’ Global health center. She went ahead trying to make the technology economic by infusing easily available cheap copper instead of silver and copper. Along with the research field tests were done in South Africa to know the effectiveness in real world.
In one experiment she took sewage contaminated water from a ditch in a school. The challenging sample was purified to 99.9% and this was the success that led to the drinkable book being viable. The best thing about this discovery is that trace quantities of copper leach into the water and it is totally safe for drinking. The levels of copper are well below Environment protection Agency and WHO standards. The new company formed by Dankovich pAge Drinking Paper is manufacturing this book in collaboration with a Ngo WATERisLIFe. The book manufactured has instructions of use written on every page in English and local language. One page can filter up to 100 liters of water and a book can last for 4 years for one person. This really is an ingenious way to filter water and also spread knowledge. Dankovich plans to print general health hygiene on these books also to benefit the population in third world. Hats off to the genius of Dr. Theresa Dankovich.