Cacti Can Be Used to Purify Water

Norma Alcantar is a chemical engineer and investigates the reactions between green material and contaminated drinking water. In her research, she has found that mucilage in cacti, a gummy substance in them, can remove heavy metals, particulates, and bacteria from water. the mucilage binds to dirt and the particles forms clumps that are large enough to settle out of the water when you draw the water through a sand filter. With bacteria, mucilage engulfs the bacteria and causes it to starve, or again makes them settle out of the water. Mucilage is made of carbohydrates and sugars, it is within the cactus and helps the plant store water. By boiling the prickly pear, you are seperating the mucilage from the plant. Prickly pears can be found in the western US, the Mediterranean, and dry regions of Mexico.

This is related to science and biology because with a different technique of how to purify rural drinking water, with a natural resource that they can easily find near their home. Drinking contaminated water is definitely risky for your health and might leads to colds, fevers, parasites, etc. When arsenic binds to the sugars of the mucilage, the number of particles changes, changing its ability to stay dissolved.

This topic is important because this technique can be used for rural drinking water, and since Alcantar has estimated that a lobe of prickly pear can supply a family of five for five weeks, it would help a lot of people for a good amount of time. This technique can be used in places that don't have the purifying water system that most of us have, or don't have enough clean water to drink. In case we can't boil our water, maybe mucilage will be spread across the U.S. and we can find a way to get to them.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/09/17/cactus-arsenic-water-02.html