Essay on Making Water Safe to Drink is published for informational purposes only. The free papers are not written by our writers, they are contributed by users, so we are not responsible for the content of this free sample paper. If you want to buy a quality Essay on Essay on Making Water Safe to Drink at affordable prices please use our essay writing services offered by EssayEmpire.

Waterborne infectious diseases kill millions of people every year, especially children. Boiling water takes a large amount of energy. Chemicals are expensive, must be regulated carefully, and have side effects. Around 1946, researchers at General Electric found that ultraviolet (UV) radiation from their lamps would kill all of the most harmful bacteria commonly found in water. In fact, UV at 254 nanometers fuses adjacent base pairs in the DNA of bacteria and viruses, rendering the DNA useless to the organism, disabling its ability to generate enzymes for its survival and to multiply and cause disease. Since the bacteria die soon after exposure and cannot reproduce, they pose no threat even if ingested.

More than forty years later, Ashok Gadgil combined his knowledge of basic science with practical experience of what works in the places where most of humanity lives, in order to bring the problem and solution together. The trick was not just to find the optimum wavelength at which to disinfect water, but to design a simple device that would consume little energy, require little maintenance, and survive harsh outdoor conditions for many years, and yet be small, light, portable, and inexpensive. The UV Waterworks device and its derivatives achieve just that. In the summer of 1993, experiments by Gadgil and co-inventor Vikas Garud showed that the UV from a 60-watt modified fluorescent lamp could kill bacteria in twelve seconds.

In its most basic form, the device has a tank from which water drips by gravity through a bed, lit by a UV lamp. This mercury-vapor lamp has a quartz tube that transmits UV, instead of a phosphor-coated glass tube that stops UV and emits white light. Little of the energy is wasted as heat or light. The gravity feed avoids the need for pressurized water supply or electric pumps. Instead of a waterproof lamp immersed in water, Gadgil's lamp is simply fixed above the water bed. The power needed is around 40 watts, available from a motorcycle battery, solar cells, or even a hand-cranked generator. More sophisticated versions incorporate multiple filters, pumps, and carts for use in portable drinking water systems for disaster areas. Treating 1.5 liters per minute, a unit can deliver enough safe drinking water for a village of two thousand people for under $2 per person per year, including amortized capital costs. The monetary cost, not to mention the human suffering, avoided by protecting one child from waterborne diseases more than covers that expense. The benefits to humanity from this inspired invention are truly beyond calculation.

Free essays are not written to satisfy your specific instructions. You can order a term paper, research paper or custom TOPIC at our site which offers professional essay writing services. Get your high quality custom paper at relatively cheap prices. EssayEmpire is the best solution for those who seek help in essay writing related to TOPIC and other relevant topics.