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Published on the first Friday of every month in The Journal.
Gut feeling will save thousands
Jul 21 2006
By Enterprise North East
A small bottle that warns people when their drinking water is contaminated could help save the lives of thousands of people in the Third World.
The device is the brainchild of Northumbria University PhD student Puja Tandon who received her qualification at an awards ceremony yesterday.
The bottle is fitted with a special chemical system that alerts people when sewage bacteria such as E. coli are present in drinking water. Bacteria, such as diarrhoea, still kill several million children under five in developing countries every year.
The bottle contains a dried mixture of all of the nutrients required to help these bacteria grow - under conditions similar to those in the human gut - along with a chemical indicator that changes colour (to black) if E. coli is present. A sample of water is taken directly into the bottle and then placed in a dark room overnight. The next day if the water has turned black, it means that it is contaminated and should not be drunk without treatment.
Puja says: "There are then simple methods of killing the bacteria. It can be left in direct sunlight for five to six hours and that will kill the organisms, or the water can be stored in copper vessels for 48 hours which effectively sanitises it. Boiling is another alternative, but only where there is sufficient fuel."
As part of her research, she has also discovered that when water is stored in brass, minute traces of copper dissolve in the water, inactivating bacteria such as E. coli. The amounts of copper are too small to be toxic to people but they are sufficient to kill the bacteria.
"The problem previously was that people had no way of knowing if their water was safe or not and were playing Russian roulette with their lives," says Puja.
Originally from Punjab in northern India, Puja has spent three-and-a-half years researching her subject. She spent nine months each year testing water supplies for her "coliblack" system in the Microbiology Department of Punjab University and the other three months working under the supervision of Professor Rob Reed at Northumbria University in Newcastle.
She is now working as a biotechnology lecturer as well as an international co-ordinator in India. However, she hopes to secure additional funding which would allow her to carry out post-doctoral study at Northumbria University and extend her current research.
