The world’s safe fresh water drinking supply is rapidly dwindling thanks to severe drought and contamination. Here in the US, the FDA recently conducted tests and found that 31 states had their drinking water contaminated with a carcinogen known as ‘Hexavalent Chromium’. So how do you know your water is safe to drink? Buy bottled water perhaps? Sure but even then you have to make sure that the plastic being used doesn’t contain BPA that can leech into the water. Students from the University of Washington have come up with a solution of their own and won $40,000 for their efforts. The students used sunlight to disinfect water in plastic bottles and designed a device that lets the drinker know when 99.9% of bacteria and viruses have been eliminated. Chin Jung Cheng, Charlie Matlack, Penny Huang and Jacqueline Linnes used parts from a keychain that blinks in response to light. When attached to a water bottle it monitors the light passing through and when all particles have been destroyed, the device ceaces to blink. Other electronics monitor how much light is passing through the bottle and whether a water-filled bottle is present, so the system knows when to stop or start recording data. For further information please visit: http://www.washington.edu/news/articles/students2019-water-testing-tool-wins-40-000-launches-nonprofit
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