SB: Off topic, but important to sustainable environment

[CALXA@aol.com]

WHO: Soda Bottles, Sunlight Can Save Millions Of Lives A Year  
March 21, 2001

GENEVA (AP) - A do-it-yourself technique of disinfecting water with sunlight 
and soft-drink bottles could save up to 2.5 million lives a year, the World 
Health Organization said Thursday. 

In a campaign to reduce water-related deaths in developing countries, the 
United Nations health agency is promoting Solar Water Disinfection or SODIS. 

Martin Wegelin, a researcher at the Swiss Institute for Environmental Science 
and Technology, said when 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. 

The method is even more effective when the bottom half of the bottle is 
painted black or placed on black-painted corrugated iron or plastic sheets, 
he said. 

More than one billion people drink unsafe water, WHO said in a report on 
water and sanitation released to mark World Water Day. Some 3.4 billion 
people, mostly children, die every year from water-related diseases, which 
include malaria, diarrhea and guinea worm. 

WHO urged the use of SODIS, chlorination and better hygiene as immediate 
means of improving people's water supply in developing countries. 

Chlorination is another simple method that costs just a few cents a day, WHO 
said. 

``Even in conditions of very poor sanitation and hygiene, where people are 
collecting whatever water is available for their household supply, if the 
water is chlorinated (it) is improved,'' said Mark Sobsey, professor of 
environmental microbiology at the University of North Carolina in Chapel 
Hill. ``And you can find statistically significant decreases in diarrhea 
disease.'' 

WHO said chlorine could be added to both home and city reservoirs and was 
essential in refugee camps. 

The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent said it was 
redoubling its efforts to provide disaster victims with access to clean water 
and sanitation. 

It has been deploying emergency water purification units to relief camps and 
provides 20 million liters (5.3 million gallons) of water per day to one 
million people, spending 50 million Swiss francs (dlrs 30 million) a year. 

Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
 
       

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the list, send a message to:
   <strawbale-unsubscribe@crest.org>

or for the digest to:
   <strawbale-digest-unsubscribe@crest.org>

Please send any list administration questions to
strawbale-owner@crest.org