The desert state of Rajasthan, a region of 79.79 million of people, is located on the north western side of the India, comprised mainly of desert, and is the sister state of South Australia.
Rajasthan is in the grip of a devastating water crisis with 19 out of the 33 districts being famine affected. Nearly 17 000 out of the total 44 672 villages are facing water crisis. Lack of good water management significantly limits its development and is a critical requirement for future growth.
Researchers at University of Adelaide are attempting to aid those affected by providing them with fresh drinking water via simple, self-assembly water treatment kits that make use of sunlight and gravity, a clever design, and basic materials to produce up to 10 litres of safe drinking water per day.
The university aims to raise 30,000 Australian dollars via crowdfunding to fund the research needed to design and produce 1000 kits. Each kit will cost around 30 dollars and will provide one family with up to 10 litres of potable water per day.
Project leader Chris Birzer, Senior Lecturer in University’s School of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Humanitarian and Development Solutions Initiative at the University, said:
“We want to build on the very simple water treatment kits we developed for use in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, which allow people to make their own water purifiers from materials readily to hand.
“These kits use sunlight to kill pathogens, making the water safe to drink. But in India, the water also contains heavy-metal contaminants and we need to do some onsite pathogen, heavy metal and other toxin assessments to be able to modify the kits for Rajasthan.
“Once we’ve designed the kits, they will be produced in Rajasthan and distributed to the community through local partners,” Birzer added.
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