• Question: @Richard how does light clean water? its very interesing

    Asked by Liam to Richard on 17 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Richard Simons

      Richard Simons answered on 17 Mar 2015:

      Hi Liam, the light isn’t really ‘cleaning’ the water in the traditional sense. UV (ultraviolet) light is high power radiation that causes DNA damage to any bacteria that may be in the water – sunlight contains UV light, and if we don’t protect ourselves with suncream the cells in our skin get damaged in the same way.

      If we drink dirty water there’s a chance that the bacteria within it could cause an infection in our stomach and make us unwell. When this happens the bacteria divide (reproduce) rapidly and they attack in huge numbers, an essential tactic for something so small.

      When we treat water with UV the bacteria aren’t removed from the water, but because of the damage caused by the UV light they’re unable to replicate, and so they can’t cause infection.

      We’re looking to find the cheapest, most efficient way of doing this so that we can make devices which could help people in developing communities around the world.

      I hope that’s cleared a few things up for you; is there anything else you’d like to know?

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