As an efficient, inexpensive, low-tech way to treat water, Dr. James Amburgey’s research could bring clean, safe drinking water to potentially millions upon millions of people. Simplicity is the primary objective of the rapid sand filter system Amburgey is developing. ‘The idea is to make it as simple as possible, he said. ‘All that is needed is some PVC pipe, sand and inexpensive treatment chemicals. The only way to practically deploy a system to the people of less developed countries is for it to be inexpensive and simple. Amburgey, an assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, specializes in drinking and recreational water treatment. He has done work in the past with slow sand filters, but his latest research with rapid sand filters is demonstrating the ability to clean water much more effectively and 30 to 50 times faster. ‘One significant challenge with sand filters is in removing Cryptosporidium oocysts, Amburgey said. ‘One ‘crypto’ is five microns in diameter, but the gaps between grains of sand are approximately 75 microns. So, we have to get the crypto to stick to the sand grains. To achieve this, Amburgey has developed a chemical pretreatment scheme based on ferric […]