As per UNICEF, millions of people in India die every year from diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia related to contaminated water, including 600,000 children. With most people in India earning less than $2 a day, there is very little money to access purified water. The Indian government and its supporting arms also do not have the sufficient resources or capacity to provide safe drinking water to India’s teeming millions. Sewage often pollutes the water supply in India’s countryside, where 70 percent of the population resides.

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A new solar water purifier uses high-energy particles from the sun and induces them within a photolytic material, creating a chemical reaction. Oxygen molecules are activated to break down bacteria and other organic matter in the water. While use of solar photocatalysis to destroy pollutants has been worked on before, this new systems makes improvements to the material most-typically used by improving the amount of visible light absorbed and improving the efficiency of the photocatalytic process.

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The materials don’t need a power source, so the technology is easy to set up off the grid. It only needs to be hooked up to containers of contaminated water and pointed toward the sun. This technology can not only be used in India but also parts of Africa which faces a similar predicament. Though not able to remove contaminants such as arsenic and mercury, nonetheless if produced at lower enough costs, this system could be highly beneficial in large parts of India to provide safe drinking water.