Science & Technology

New system turns manure in to drinking water

By T.K. Randall
June 6, 2014

Image: Female Black and White Cow
Credit: Keith Weller / (PD) USDA With water shortages becoming a growing issue in many parts of the world, researchers have been hunting for new and efficient ways to produce clean drinking water for the masses.

Now Professor Steve Safferman and his team from Michigan State University have stepped up to the challenge by developing a new way to produce drinkable water via an effective, albeit unappetizing method involving the filtering of cow manure.The 'anaerobic digester' extracts harmful compounds such as ammonia from cow dung and passes out water that is clean enough to drink.

"If you have 1,000 cows on your operation, they produce about 10 million gallons of manure a year," he said. "About 90% of the manure is water but it contains large amounts of nutrients, carbon and pathogens that can have an environmental impact if not properly managed."

While the 'cow juice' is unlikely to replace tap water any time soon, the resulting product should prove an ideal water source for livestock. The team believes that their system could produce 870 million gallons of clean water every day in the United States alone.

Source: Yahoo! News

Tags: Manure, Drink, Water