Geneva — A do-it-yourself technique of disinfecting water with sunlight and soft-drink bottles could save hundreds of thousands of lives a year, the World Health Organization said today.
In a campaign to reduce deaths from unhealthy water in developing countries, the U.N. health agency is promoting a nearly cost-free process called Solar Water Disinfection, or SODIS. Requiring only sunlight, empty plastic soft-drink bottles and a black surface, it costs almost nothing, said Martin Wegelin, a researcher at the Swiss Institute for Environmental Science and Technology.
The process is simple: Transparent bottles are filled with water and placed horizontally on a flat surface for about five hours. The heat and ultraviolet rays of the sun kill illness-causing microorganisms in polluted water.
"Some 2.5 million people die from drinking unsafe water every year," said WHO Director of the department of Health and Environment Richard Helmer. "They are unnecessary deaths since this method could provide them with safe drinking water. This is a highly reliable method that has been proven to work."
The method is even more effective when the bottom half of the bottle is painted black or placed on a black sheet of corrugated iron or plastic, which absorbs more heat and kills more pathogens.
More than one billion people drink unsafe water, the agency said in a report to mark World Water Day. A total of 3.4 million people, mostly children, die every year from water-related diseases from drinking, swimming in or washing clothes in polluted water. Diseases include malaria, diarrhea and guinea worm.
WHO urged the use of SODIS, chlorination and better hygiene as means of improving water quality in developing countries.
It said chlorination is another simple method that costs just a few cents a day. WHO said chlorine was essential in refugee camps.
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