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Innovations
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| Brighter Light, Better Water Christopher G. Reuther Abstract
While most people in the developed world have safe drinking water continuously supplied to their homes, more than half of the world's population is exposed to water contaminated with pathogenic organisms that make this most basic resource a potentially deadly health hazard. Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are working to develop a simple and effective device that, along with a basic health education program, can greatly reduce people's risk of becoming infected through the water they drink. The device, named UV Waterworks, is a grocery bag-sized stainless steel box containing a low-pressure mercury vapor lamp like those used in the fluorescent lighting found in most office buildings, only lacking the phosphor coating that keeps other fluorescent lights from emitting ultraviolet radiation. The result is that 70% of the light emitted from the lamp is UV-C radiation with a wavelength of around 254 nanometers. At this wavelength, UV light has germicidal properties, and, at proper intensities, can render bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens harmless by inactivating their DNA. Christopher G. Reuther
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