MIT researchers test an inexpensive water filter fashioned from a pine tree branch, which may provide a low-tech solution to water treatment around the world.
Inexpensive, disposable filters could bring clean water to millions of people in developing nations. But Karnik believes that the filter might also help stranded hikers distill clean water in emergency situations. "White pine is so common the Northeast that just cutting off a branch and using it as a filter would be fairly straightforward," he says.
Internationally, sapwood filters could provide a much needed low-cost and low-tech solution to water purification, says Rick Andrew, global business development director of water systems at the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) International. "It's always interesting to see these novel techniques being investigated," he says. "Regardless of whether or not it has real world potential—and it might—it gives us insight into ideas and other technology that could be developed based on the study."
more at link …
actual paper
http://www.plos.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/pone-9-2-boutilier.pdf
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