Patent to improve water quality

An invention patented by the University of Venda’s School of Environmental Sciences may change the lives of millions of people in rural Africa.

The water treatment device, developed by three leading Univen academics, will reduce the high fluoride levels in groundwater and make it safer to drink.

The water-treatment absorbant was developed, following a study conducted at the University of Venda from 2014 to 2016 by Prof Wilson Gitari, Dr Antony Izuagie and Prof Jabulani Gumbo.

According to Gumbo, this absorbant will improve the provision of drinking water to rural African communities that rely on groundwater. “Fluoride is important in the formation of teeth and bones if present in drinking water at the right concentrations,” he said. In areas such as Nzhelele, however, the concentration of ion fluoride is too high, which creates a danger for people. Gumbo said that concentrations above the recommended limits of fluoride (1.5 mg/l) may have negative health impacts, such as teeth mottling and the deformation of bones.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 400 rural communities in South Africa depend on borehole water for domestic purposes. Rural communities rely mostly on borehole water for their daily needs and this water source is used directly by these communities without any prior treatment.

The University of Venda’s School of Environmental Sciences, with support from the Water Research Commission (WRC) and the National Research Foundation (NRF), developed and patented the groundwater treatment adsorbant.

Date:06 February 2017

By: Mbulaheni Ridovhona

The 22-year-old Mbulaheni (Gary) Ridovhona has been passionate about journalism to the extent that he would buy himself a copy of weekly Univen students' newsletter, Our Voice. After reading, he would write stories about his rural village, Mamvuka, and submit them to the very newsletter for publication. His deep-rooted love for words and writing saw him register for a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies at the University of Venda, and joined the Limpopo Mirror team in February 2016 as a journalism intern.

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