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From VOA Learning English, |
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this is the Agriculture Report. |
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Students at the University of Virginia |
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have developed a new way of purifying water. |
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They say it could bring improved water quality |
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to millions of people in the developing world. |
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They called it MadiDrop. |
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Field testing begins recently in South Africa. |
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The laboratory in which the MadiDrop is made |
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operates like a kitchen. |
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Workers add ingredients and mix, weigh, press and bake. |
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What the workers are making |
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is a ceramic disc that contains silver. |
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When the disc is dropped in water, |
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silver ions are released to purify the water. |
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Ions are atoms that have an electrical charge. |
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Testing at the University of Virginia |
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shows that the disc produces clean, safe water. |
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Beeta Ehdaie is a doctoral candidate at UVA. |
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"It's not just about making a really great technology |
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that effectively removes or kills bacteria and pathogens. |
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It's about making a low cost, simple to use one, |
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tailored to people in developing countries |
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who don't have many resources." |
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The students are experimenting with different sizes of MadiDrops |
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to match them with different sized water containers. |
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Why the name "MadiDrop"? |
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The word "madi" means water in Tshivenda, |
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a language of Limpopo Province in South Africa. |
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There, fifty women run a factory that makes water filters. |
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The university started the factory last summer. |
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The women mix sawdust and clay to make flower pot shaped filters |
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that they use to purify drinking water. |
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The water flows through the filters |
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is which trap bacteriaand solid particles. |
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The factory sells the filters to local families. |
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Manager Certinah Khashane says |
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the work has changed the women's lives. |
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"When they get money for those pots, |
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they just buying school uniform for their children." |
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But the MadiDrop is smaller and less expensive than the filters. |
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Over the next few months, |
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students will test the MadiDrop in South Africa. |
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Maggie Montgomery is a water expert |
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with the World Health Organization. |
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Over Skype, she explained what field testing should show. |
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"Do they find it convenient, |
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does it have a certain taste they don't like to the water, |
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what happens once it becomes exhausted?" |
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If the testing is successful, |
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the South African women will make and sell the MadiDrops. |
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The goal is to expand such factories to other developing countries |
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and improve millions of lives each year. |
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Jim Smith is a UVA engineering professor. |
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He leads the project. |
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"Imagine a magic stone and you take this magic stone |
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and you drop it in your water container. |
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It purifies the water and makes it safe to drink. |
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And then imagine that this magic stone only costs a few dollars. |
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That's what a MadiDrop is." |
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Professor Smith says he has received calls |
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from companies that want to make the MadiDrop. |
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And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English. |
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I'm Christopher Cruise. |
