Disinfection: more affordable treatment with ultraviolet light

Updated - Friday 13 February 2009

A new method for disinfecting water safely and cheaply has been developed at a government laboratory in the US. The technology, which makes use of ultraviolet light, is already in use on several countries, including India and Sri Lanka.

The purification system, designed by Ashok Gadgil at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has been licensed to the US firm WaterHealth International. Working together with the Naandi Foundation, WHI has set up 200 WaterHealth Centres in India, providing one million people with clean water.

The centres try to avoid the common problem of communities being unable to maintain facilities by training local people to operate the purification systems. The ultraviolet technology requires little maintenance and low energy. WHI also offers health and hygiene education programs and marketing to inform local residents of the benefits of the systems.

WHI asks communities to make a down-payment on the new systems and then helps finance the remaining balance. Once the loan is repaid, the community owns the centre.

Related news:

Water treatment: Swede invents solar-powered water purifier, Source South Asia, 10 Feb 2009;
Output-based aid: community water project in Andhra Pradesh, India, Source South Asia, 23 Jan 2009.

Web sites: Ashok Gadgil; WaterHealth International; Naandi Foundation; WaterHealth Centres

Source: Nancy Pontius, America.gov, 12 Jan 2009