Credit: T. Larason/NIST
A scientist places a water sample onto a custom-made platform before a test. Each water sample contains microorganisms such as the parasite Giardia and adenoviruses, both of which can make humans sick.
While awaiting full access to their labs due to COVID-19 restrictions, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have taken this rare opportunity to report the technical details of pioneering research they conducted on the disinfection of drinking water using ultraviolet (UV) light.
Back in 2012, the NIST scientists and their collaborators published several papers on some fundamental findings with potential benefits to water utility companies. But these articles never fully explained the irradiation setup that made the work possible.
Now, for the first time, NIST researchers are publishing the technical details of the unique experiment, which relied on a portable laser to test how well different wavelengths of UV light inactivated different microorganisms in water. The work appears today in the Review of Scientific Instruments (RSI).
“We’ve been wanting to formally write this up for years,” said NIST’s Tom Larason. “Now we have time to tell the world about it.”
One urgency for publishing a full description of the NIST system is that researchers envision using this UV setup for new experiments that go beyond the study of drinking water and into disinfection of solid surfaces and air. The potential applications could include better UV disinfection of hospital rooms and even studies of how sunlight inactivates the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19.
“As far as I know, no one has duplicated this work, at least not for biological research,” Larason said. “That’s why we want to get this paper out now.”
Good Enough to Drink
U ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
Violet){kind=link}