Friday, May 13, 2011

Good morning,

Fresh, clean water is the most important commodity in the
world for sustaining human life. Unfortunately, it is
growing more and more scarce as pollution and misuse reduce
available sources.

So how do you purify polluted water? There are a lot of
methods from simple but energy intensive methods like
boiling, to chemical methods like adding iodine or chlorine,
all the way to irradiating it with ultraviolet light.

Or, you could use banana peels.

Please scroll down for more.

Thanks for reading,

Your Living Green editor

Email the Editor


***

Keep your food fresh longer with these containers!
Freezer, microwave, and dishwasher safe! 10 pieces for under $8.
http://pd.gophercentral.com/u/1091/c/186/a/578

***

Banana peels, useful in polishing silverware and leather
shoes, may have another "cleaning" ability -- as a water
purifier, Brazilian researchers say.

Scientists funded by the Sao Paolo Research Foundation
say minced banana peels performed better than a number of
other purification materials in removing potentially toxic
metal contamination from water, an article in an American
Chemical Society journal reported Wednesday.

Mining processes, runoff from farms and industrial wastes
can all put health and environment harming heavy metals
such as lead and copper into waterways.

Current purification methods are expensive and some
substances used in the process are toxic themselves,
researchers say.

Previous work has shown some plant wastes, such as coconut
fibers and peanut shells, can remove these potential
toxins from water. The researchers found minced banana peel
quickly removes lead and copper from river water as well
as, or better than, many other materials, and a purification
system made of banana peels can be used up to 11 times with-
out losing its metal-binding properties.

Banana peels are attractive as water purifiers because of
low cost and because they don't have to be chemically modified
in order to work, they say.