A Day in TEMESI village: Solar Water Disinfection (part 4)

Hey Greensters!! 

An example of heating bottles on the roof of our house

Patricia here. :)

Today, I want to talk to you about Solar Water Disinfection (one of the things us 'The Green Team Indonesia' members learned in Temesi). This method can be used as an emergency when you have no fuel when you need to boil water or when you’re going camping. I find this very interesting because we’re using natural energy from the sun. Our natural environment has provided us with everything we need to survive in this great, big world. It’s up to us to benefit them all for our lives.


Here are the steps for Solar Water Disinfection:

Step 1: Clean the bottles before use for water disinfection. I think it is better to use glass bottles because plastic bottles might react when it is heated by the sun.

Step 2: Fill the bottles with clear water to the brim

Step 3: Put the bottles in the open air exposed to direct sunlight. Place a black-color pedestal or pad at the bottom of the bottles. 

The length of 'heating' time:

• When the sky is clear or a bit cloudy, you can put the water bottles under direct sunlight outside from 6 am to 6 pm. 
• If it's sometimes rainy or sometimes sunny, you can put the water bottles under direct sunlight outside for 2 consecutive days.

Step 4: Your water is ready to drink!

It might be better to use glass bottles rather than plastic

Notes:

• The black color pedestal or pad placed under the bottles will absorb the heat and help heating up the water inside the bottles so that the water will be disinfected faster. 
• Sunlight contains ultraviolet rays and it can pass through the bottles. The combination between the ultraviolet rays and the rise of temperature inside the bottles will cause the bacteria in the water to die. 

Hope this helps those of you who are interested in doing this. 

Thank you for reading and have a nice day. :)



Best regards,

Patricia TGTI

(grade 8 student)