MIT innovators’ design really holds water
By Laura Crimaldi
Sunday, March 26, 2006
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It might be just a drop in the bucket of a global problem, but a team of MIT inventors hopes the turn of a crank could bring the world closer to a hydrated future.
“More than 40,000 children die every day of water-related illnesses,” said Gary Long, one of three designers of the TurnPure water bottle that captured first-place honors at the Soldier Design Competition Academy at West Point. “It’s a common problem for even someone like myself, a civilian who is traveling, or military strung out on supply lines or people in developing countries.”
Long and his teammates, MIT undergrads Chandan Das and Justin Holland, developed a water purifier that sterilizes a liter of water in a minute via ultraviolet light. The portable device uses a hand crank to power the UV bulb.
The device was inspired by the world’s staggering water crisis, said Long. A billion people worldwide are without adequate sewage and sanitation and more than 3 million deaths annually are blamed on waterborne disease, the U.N. says.
The problem is staggering in developing countries such as Mexico, where water experts convened last week for World Water Day. In India, for example, the World Bank estimates 21 percent of communicable diseases are related to unsafe water. Diarrhea kills 1,600 people in that country each day.
Long and colleagues, who go by the name Radiant Flux, have entered the MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition. They hope by selling the system for $100 to recreational hikers, climbers, bikers and travelers, they can give people in poor countries the ability to kill the E. coli, giardia and cryptosporidium in water for just a dollar.
“A device like this can definitely make an impact,” Long said.
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