U.S. Water News Online
LONDON -- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will give $13 million to produce the world's first low-cost water quality tests, a project aimed at decreasing child deaths caused by waterborne disease in developing countries, the University of Bristol said.
The device, called Aquatest, would be similar to a home pregnancy test, with results displayed as colored bands that would show if the water was safe to drink. The device would also distinguish whether water was safe for adults but not children, the elderly or the sick.
"This work will inform and support efforts to ensure that the poor have access to safe drinking water," Charles Lyons, a foundation official, said in a statement.
Waterborne disease causes 1.8 million deaths each year, including 1.5 million children younger than 5 years old, according to the World Health Organization, which is part of the consortium of agencies and universities working on the project. More than 1 billion people lack access to safe water, with most unaware it is unsafe, WHO said.
A simple easy-to-use water test has not been created sooner because there is no market for it in the developed world, said Stephen Gundry, the director of the Water and Health Research Center at Bristol.
Gundry said he expects the devices will be in widespread use in 80 percent of developing countries within 10 years. He said he hopes to begin testing the devices in two target countries -- India and South Africa -- within two years.
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