Solar Power Plan to Purify Water in India

A solar-powered purification system could provide remote parts of India with clean drinking water for the first time.

Researchers at Edinburgh are developing low-cost, low-energy technology to decontaminate sewage water in villages.

Chemists and engineers are using state-of-the-art solar energy and water filtration technologies to develop the simple systems.

The initiative will not only provide safer drinking water, but could also help reduce the spread of disease, researchers say.

Water treatment

There is no systematic treatment of sewage in rural India. The Indian Government has focused on purifying contaminated water in rivers and streams, but the situation could be greatly improved by tackling the problem at source, the team says.  

To make contaminated water safe to drink, visible traces of waste are first removed using filters.

Next, any remaining organic matter and bacteria is broken down. The team is adapting its existing technologies to power this second stage in the decontamination process.

Off-grid system

Their system uses sunlight to generate high-energy particles inside solar-powered materials, which activate oxygen in the water to incinerate harmful pollutants and bacteria.

We are aiming to provide people in rural India with a simple off-grid water decontamination system. This could be achieved by simply fitting our modified solar-activated materials to containers of contaminated water positioned in direct sunlight. - Dr Aruna IvaturiSchool of Chemistry

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Taxonomy

• Purification
• Solar Energy
• Solar Power