Chemistry Department Publishes Breakthrough Study on Clean Water Filtration

A team from the Chemistry Department has published a five-year study describing a low-cost filtration membrane capable of removing heavy metals from drinking water using materials that can be sourced locally rather than imported.

The membrane began as a final-year project before the department secured funding to take it from a bench prototype to a field trial. Three community water points now run the filter under normal conditions, with results logged monthly by a rotating team of postgraduate researchers.

"The materials science was the easy part," the lead researcher said. "Making something that a small water authority could actually maintain without a chemistry degree took the other four years."

The department is now in discussion with two regional water boards about a larger pilot, and the full dataset has been submitted for peer review.