In many parts of the world, clean water is in short supply, but new technologies can help.
Safe sanitation for a healthy, sustainable world (A 2020 Goalkeepers Accelerator)
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency recently purchased machines to remove concentrations of hazardous substances known as PFAS. The high-tech system works by injecting outside air into contaminated water, converting PFAS into foam that can be separated from the water. It’s one of a growing number of devices helping to make water safer.
“Less than one percent of the Earth’s surface is actually fresh water,” Prakash Govindan, co-founder of Gradiant, a company that makes water purification technology, told Lifewire in an email interview. “It’s a very limited resource, and water stress is the first sign of climate change.”
The machine in Minnesota significantly reduces PFAS levels as the foam is removed and the water is returned to the environment. The PFAS concentrate then goes to another unit, a second machine where the carbon-fluorine bonds (the backbone of PFAS chemicals) are broken by electrochemical oxidation.
