Building the World

80% of Tap Water Contains Plastic – Can You Design a Solution?

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Innovation challenge: design a personal straw – with filter. “Drink with Straw” by Martin Belam, 2006. Image: wikimedia.

A recent study found an alarmingly high percentage of tap water has microscopic plastic fibers. In the United States, 94% of drinking water sample contained micro plastics; worldwide, 83%. The particles are so small, most filters can’t catch them: micro plastics may even cross human digestive tracts to enter organs. Could filters lead the way? Wole Soboyejo and team designed a new microporous and nanoporous water filter. Askwar Hilonga, winner of the Africa Innovation Prize, Royal Academy of Engineering, also designed a water filter based on nanotechnology. With increasing bans on plastic straws, innovation markets may open to new kinds of straws. Now is a good time for innovation. Submit your design for a personal straw – with filter.

Annan, Ebenezer, Kwabena Kan-Dapaah, Salifu T. Azeko, Wole Soboyejo. “Clay Mixtures and the Mechanical Properties of Microporous and Nonporous Ceramic Water Filters. Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering 28 (10): 04016105. May 2016. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533-0001596. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/302918873_Clay_Mixtures_and_the_Mechanical_Properties_of_Microporous_and_Nanoporous_Ceramic_Water_Filters.

Brooke, Kathleen Lusk. “Make Your Next Straw, The Last Straw.” 26 January 2018. Building the World Blog. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2018/01/26/make-your-next-straw-the-last-straw.

Hilonga, Askwar. “Africa Innovation Prize, Royal Academy of Engineering.” YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNw21Rz37vA

Shmurak, Susannah. “Are There Microplastics in Your Drinking Water?” 24 November 2017. eartheasy. http://learn.eartheasy.com/2017/11/microplastics-drinking-water/.

Timmons, Mark. “Removing micro plastics from drinking water.” March 2017. https://www.uswatersystems.com/blog/2017/12/removing-microplastics-from-your-tap-water/

Tyree, Chris and Dan Morrison, “Plastic fibers pervasive in tap water worldwide, new study shows.” 2017. Deutsche Wellehttp://www.dw.com/en/plastic-fibers-pervasive-in-tap-water-worldwide-new-study-shows/a-40370206

Victor, Daniel. “Bans on Plastic Straws in Restaurants Expand to More Cities.” 3 March 2018. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/03/climate/plastic-straw-bans.html.

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

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