Maharashtra Institute Devises Cheap Tech To Convert Rainwater Into Drinking Water

The plummeting groundwater level from year to year has given rise to new technologies. The Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute in Satara, Maharashtra, has devised a technology to clean rainwater and make it drinkable.

Under this technique, first, the rainwater is collected in a tank, then the water is cleaned and finally, the microbiological containers in the water are removed using solar heating.

With this new technology, it is easy to make rainwater drinkable without electricity and expensive machines. Rainwater does not contain salt and harmful chemical arsenic compared to groundwater. However, when the rainwater falls on the ground, it becomes contaminated due to which the color of the water turns brown. This water can be cleaned by adding alum chemical.

Usually, one litre of water requires 20 mg of alum. Adding alum to water also kills the coliform bacteria present in the water, which also does not affect health. It’s a significant breakthrough for a country whose 66 percent of the population lives in rural areas and 85 percent of the population uses groundwater for drinking.

About 230 km of cube groundwater is used annually. This is the reason that slowly the level of groundwater is going down which is a sign of a huge problem in the coming days. Apart from this, there are many parts of the country where there is a lot of fluoride, nitrate, iron, and arsenic in the water which is harmful to health.

Also today, many machines are available in the market for cleaning water, which runs only on electricity. Whereas a large population in rural areas does not have access to electricity and machines. Not only this, but the chlorination technique is also commonly used for cleaning the coliforms bacteria present in water, which have a bad effect on health.