--- title: Drinkable Book Promises to Filter Unclean Water description: The pages are used to eliminate bacteria canonical: https://time.com/4001048/drinkable-book/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-17T22:34:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T10:14:32.655Z article:section: Science og:title: 'Drinkable Book' Promises to Filter Dirty Water og:description: The pages are used to eliminate bacteria og:url: https://time.com/4001048/drinkable-book/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt623a6466153804cf/69885fb2428a9ec2fecceaf5/south-africa-river.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5120 og:image:height: 2880 og:image:alt: 475155407 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Drinkable Book' Promises to Filter Dirty Water twitter:description: The pages are used to eliminate bacteria twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt623a6466153804cf/69885fb2428a9ec2fecceaf5/south-africa-river.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Drinkable Book' Promises to Filter Dirty Water > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Aug 17, 2015 10:34 PM UTC  Vaal River, Aerial view, Gauteng Province, Free State Province, South Africa Vaal River, Aerial view, Gauteng Province, Free State Province, South Africa Richard du Toit—Gallo Images/Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Aug 17, 2015 10:34 PM UTC A new invention promises to make dirty drinking water potable by [filtering it through the pages of a book](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33954763). The “drinkable book,” which was presented Monday at the [American Chemical Society’s 250th national meeting](http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/meetings/fall-2015.html) in Boston, consists of pages that are treated with silver or copper and printed with instructions for how to use them: tear out a page, insert it in a filter holder and pour unclean water through it. Any bacteria present will absorb the silver or copper ions, effectively removing 99% of bacteria from the water, according to BBC News. Dr. Teri Dankovich, who developed the drinkable book, says it is intended for use in developing countries where contaminated water poses major health risks. One page can filter 100 liters, and a whole book could filter one person’s drinking water for four years. The invention has already been tested using artificially contaminated water in the lab and at real sites in Bangladesh, Ghana and South Africa. The book has yet to be tested in filtering other kinds of microorganisms, like viruses. While Dankovich has so far been making the product by hand with her colleagues, she would like to see commercial production take the invention to a larger scale. \[[BBC News](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33954763)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4001048/drinkable-book/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4001048/drinkable-book/"},"headline":"'Drinkable Book' Promises to Filter Dirty Water","datePublished":"2015-08-17T22:34:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:14:32.655Z","description":"The pages are used to eliminate bacteria","url":"https://time.com/4001048/drinkable-book/","keywords":["Environment","Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt623a6466153804cf/69885fb2428a9ec2fecceaf5/south-africa-river.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt623a6466153804cf/69885fb2428a9ec2fecceaf5/south-africa-river.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"475155407","caption":"475155407","creditText":"Richard du Toit—Gallo Images/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4001048/drinkable-book/","name":"'Drinkable Book' Promises to Filter Dirty Water"}}]}] ```