Clean water, an inalienable right

The sixth UN Sustainable Development Goal says it clearly: by 2030, clean water and adequate sanitation must be ensured for all the inhabitants of the planet . A goal that still appears very far to date. In 2020, some 2 billion people lacked safely managed drinking water; almost a third, or 771 million, even had difficulty in obtaining basic drinking water. 

The availability of the world’s scarce water resources is even more limited due to the worsening of pollution of fresh water , due to the disposal in the seas and waterways of waste water that has not been sufficiently treated , puts pen to paper. ‘ UNESCO , also warning us of the ” new pollutants ” contained in pesticides , industrial and household chemicals, detergents and drugs. 

Contaminated water may seem like a distant problem to us, given that we are lucky enough to live in an industrialized country where very restrictive legislation is in force. Yet, we too are personally involved in it. 

The case of PFAS (Perfluoro Alkyl Substances) that the Miteni chemical factory in Trissino, in the province of Vicenza, has discharged into the environment for years is emblematic . From there they ended up in the aquifers and in the organism of the inhabitants of the area. It is no coincidence that in English they have been renamed ” forever chemicals “.

Nanoparticles that destroy pollutants

A possible solution comes from nanoparticles , at the center of a research project born in Italy but already landed overseas. Guiding it is Federica Costantino , a doctoral student at the Catholic University of Brescia. 

“I deal with synthesizing nanoparticles inside polymers , nanocomposites, which when exposed to light are activated to degrade the species that contaminate the water ,” he explains to the Giornale di Brescia . In other words, photons (the electromagnetic radiations of light) stimulate some “intelligent” molecules which, as a response, trigger oxidative processes capable of degrading pollutants.

Another planet compared to current water purification methods , which absorb or coagulate pollutants without destroying them, and still have their own environmental impact. On the contrary, Constantine’s project aims to exploit the process of destruction of pollutants to obtain hydrogen , by means of photocatalysis . A clean energy that allows you to do without fossil fuels.