Adding Lime Juice May Help Keep Drinking Water Safe

In addition to exposing drinking water to sunlight, scientists at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and School of Medicine suggests adding lime juice can make water a lot safer to drink.

According to senior author, Dr. Kellogg Schwab:

"For many countries, access to clean drinking water is still a major concern. Previous studies estimate that globally, half of all hospital beds are occupied by people suffering from a water-related illness."

In developing countries, one of way of treating drinking water is by exposing it to sunlight, known as Solar water disinfection. In this method, water is poured onto a liter of transparent plastic bottles and then exposed to the sun for at least 6 hours.

In their study, Schwab and his team found that when 30 milliliters of lime juice was added to water that underwent solar disinfection, the amount of bacteria, particularly E. coli, was significantly reduced in less than 30 minutes. This brings the whole new method on "par with boiling and other water treatment methods," added Schwab.

"Many cultures already practice treatment with citrus juice," said Schwab. However, more studies need to be conducted as persian limes are not easy to find in some countries.