EU funded SODISWATER Research Programme begins

The EU funded SODISWATER research project officially began on Sept 1st 2006. The aim of SODISWATER is to prove that solar disinfection of drinking water (SODIS) is an effective intervention against a range of waterborne diarrhoeal diseases, both at household level, and as emergency relief in the aftermath of natural or man-made disasters.

A multidisciplinary international team will investigate:

1. What health benefits can be directly associated with using solar disinfected drinking water in developing countries?
2. What factors influence people and communities to decide to adopt or reject SODIS in preference to some other household water treatment technology such as boiling, chlorination, filtration?
3. Can the basic solar disinfection technique be improved with a range of simple and cost-effective enhancement technologies?
4. Are there any important waterborne diseases that are not susceptible to SODIS?

The European Union has provided €1.9 million to the SODISWATER Consortium to answer these basic questions. This 3 year programme of research will be carried out by 9 research centres based in 7 countries. Health impact assessment studies will take place in South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe. In addition the Irish Govt will fund an identical study in Cambodia. European researchers from Ireland, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K. will also participate.