Students invent water-purifier

Next time you reach for that Brita water pitcher in the fridge or use the Pür filter on your kitchen faucet, consider this: Americans spend hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars each year on water purification systems, yet they do little more than improve the taste of drinking water. While our biggest concern is filtering out chlorine and minor pollutants from the tap, families in the developing world face deadly contamination in their water supply.

But thanks to a group of senior engineering students at Gonzaga University, that is changing. The group has devised an inexpensive water purification system that provides a daily supply of clean drinking water for a single family for up to five years. And unlike expensive, over-the-counter filters, this simple device meets World Health Organization standards for water quality and safety, and could actually save lives – all for about $5.

This August the students plan to take the technology to West Africa in conjunction with Engineers Without Borders, a nonprofit group that works with developing communities worldwide to improve their quality of life. There they will demonstrate and install the water purification system in villages in Benin, a small country on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea.

Dr. Bradley Striebig, associate professor at Gonzaga’s School of Engineering, describes the water in Benin as very, very bad.

“You’d have a higher chance of getting an infectious disease by drinking their water than by drinking the water that has been halfway treated here at a wastewater treatment plant,” he said.

But with the new filtration system, based on a ceramic filter comprised of tiny holes that allows water to pass while blocking deadly bacteria, families in Africa can help prevent life-threatening disease, including cholera and typhoid.

And since Americans aren’t the only ones who want great tasting water, the new purification system makes use of the kind of active-carbon filter found in Brita and Pür filtration systems. Using burnt coconut shells and husks – a sustainable resource in Benin – the carbon helps remove any remaining chemical contaminants from the water.

“One of the things we’ve done is add the activated carbon part because some people have said the water doesn’t taste good,” Striebig said. “The filters work very well, but getting people to buy into them is the challenge.”

Another challenge the group must face is raising money for the trip to Benin. At roughly $3,000 per person, most of which is eaten up by airfare, it won’t be easy. The students must also cover the cost of materials to demonstrate the equipment and actually make the filters on site. Although the Environmental Protection Agency has helped fund the project, “the EPA really only funds the U.S. research,” Striebig said. “We have to pay for the implementation.”

Rather than sell candy bars or hold a raffle, Engineers Without Borders and Gonzaga University will host the First Annual Father and Younger-Daughter Dance this Friday at the Crosby Center on the Gonzaga campus.