Bangladesh is at the top of the list of the highest population densities in the world. Access to safe drinking water has always been a challenge. In fact, 4 million people in Bangladesh are without access to safe water, according to water.org, a charity dedicated to the global water and sanitation crisis.
Thankfully a team of scientists from Uppsala University, Sweden, and Dhaka University, Bangladesh, have found a remedy to this issue – a water filtration paper made out of a locally grown macro-algae. The previously unexploited green macro-algae can be used to extract cellulose nano-fibers which can be formed into paper sheets. These paper sheets have tiny pores that are utilized for point-of-use water treatments.
Algae Paper Filter
The paper filter made from the macro-algae, Pithophora algae (or “Shewla” [শেওলা]), has demonstrated excellent virus and bacterial removal capacity. The scientists believe that the paper filter could be an affordable and efficient remedy to prevent numerous potentially deadly water-borne infections.
Albert Mihranyan, Professor of Nanotechnology at Uppsala University, the leader of the study said:
Pithophora algae have been largely overlooked in the past as a valuable raw material. It is with great satisfaction that we can now document excellent pathogen removal clearance for both water-borne bacteria and viruses with efficiency above 99.999%. It can purify even the smallest virus particles of 27-28 nanometers.
The Big Population
Bangladesh is a country with a population of more than 168 million people. The estimated growth rates suggest that the population of Bangladesh may reach the mark of 200-225 million people by 2050. In areas of the biggest cities in Bangladesh, such as Dhaka or Chittagong, the density of the population is up to 205,000 inhabitants/km2. That’s nearly 20 times more than that in New York City!
Spreading Water-Borne Infections
There are many ways in which water-borne infections can be spread including the hyper-high density of population, poor hygiene, and lack of clean water.
Dhaka and Chittagong are the only cities with extensive piped water and sewage systems. However, even there the water is available at most a few hours per day and may still get contaminated with infectious pathogens due to leakage in pipelines.
How To Prevent Spreading These Infections
In order to prevent the spread of water-borne infections, point-of-use water treatment strategies are needed that can protect against all kinds of water-borne pathogens. Some methods that are used for point-of-use water treatment include boiling, sunlight pasteurization, or chemical disinfection. The most common and efficient way of treating water to remove all kinds of pathogenic bacteria, spores, and viruses is filtration.
Khondkar Siddique-e-Rabbani, Honorary Professor at University of Dhaka and project coordinator in Bangladesh said:
Access to clean water will contribute strongly to improved health thus reducing poverty. We are optimistic that through future development of devices the filter paper produced from the locally growing algae will be useful to prevent potentially deadly water-borne diseases and improve the quality of life for millions of people.
Now, thanks to the joint efforts by the Swedish and Bangladeshi teams, this new algae paper filter could potentially solve the water safety crisis in Bangladesh.
