MAKING WATER PURE

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28222, 9 March 1957, Page 6

MAKING WATER PURE

New Devices Under Test

[By JOHN WESTBURY] LONDON, February 28. Within recent months various experts have been testing new devices which, they claim, will make fresh drinking water available to people in rural areas and elsewhere—at negligible cost. Most useful and possibly the cheapest of these inventions is the S-filter. This is a 121 b “on-the-spot” water purifier, capable of giving good, safe drinking water at the first few strokes of a hand pump. % Designed chiefly as an emergency water treatment unit for use with men on war service, the S-filter has attached to one side a long hose which is inserted in the stream, river or pond. When the pump is operated, water I enters the long hose, and comes in contact with a powder in the centre of the filter. On contact with the powder, it turns into a cake which filters all suspended matter and kills the bacteria in the water. Some bacteria remains in the filtered water, but it is sterile and harmless. Safe Drinking Men in action in, say, a tropical forest land such as Burma or Malaya, and need fresh drinking water, have only to insert the long hose in any water they can find. Within a few seconds safe drinking water will issue from the filter, at the rate sufficient to quench the deepest thirsts of 50 to 100 men within 15 minutes or so. One powder will filter about 20 gallons of water in 40 minutes.

Such a device, easy to carry or to install permanently if necessary, and simple to work, will take the terrors of thirst and water shortage from the lives of all kinds of people. Travellers, explorers, those engaged in expeditions, men seeking gold and rare metals will need only to carry the S-filter to ensure that they shall not die of thirst because they dare not drink, or die of disease because they risked drinking contaminated water. Similarly, farmers and people living in rural areas and arid tropical lands existing on well water, or (often) unfiltered pond or river water, will find in the S-filter the answer to their problems.

Another wonderful invention recently developed is described as an ultra-violet-ray water steriliser. Designed by an American company, the steriliser, it is said, answers the problem of how to supply safe drinking water for farms, tourists’ camps, rural and suburban homes, hotels, restaurants, petrol stations, factories, and so on. where the installation of an orthodox piped supply is either impracticable or too costly. Bacteria Destroyed The steriliser is a stainless steel tank of cylindrical shape, measuring 6ft high by Ift diameter. Inside are four specially made ultra-violet-ray valves that extend vertically through the water. Baffles at several levels guide the incoming water close to the steadily glowing valves. This ensures the complete destruction of dangerous bacteria, making the water safe to drink.

Inexpensive and quick to install, the steriliser is capable of purifying water at the rate of 400 gallons an hour. An ordinary pump with water line (or pipe) attached brings the water to the steriliser.

The main snag is that electricity is needed to work the ray valves.

It is claimed, however, that this device needs no attention once installed, is cheap to operate, uses no chemicals, and adds neither taste nor odour to the water.

We are, surely, close to the time when few of us—especially the bold and intrepid adventurers—need fear that we may ever die of thirst! And people living in lands where good drinking water is scarce may hope that science will soon come to their aid in a practical way.