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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown
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Urban Sustainability Caucus learns about clean water technology
HARRISBURG, July 15 – State Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown said the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Urban Sustainability Caucus' first field demonstration educated members about new technology that cleans polluted water using renewable energy.
"This was a successful start to the caucus I formed to explore innovations that can help our cities," said Lowery Brown, D-Phila. "The Hydra is an exciting technology that can help the less fortunate who do not have clean water while creating jobs in Pennsylvania. It also helps us continue down the path of using clean, renewable energy as we break our reliance on fossil fuels."
Lowery Brown and other caucus members met Saturday at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia where they watched representatives from The Essential Element demonstrate the Hydra. The solar-powered machine filters viruses and bacteria from water using technology certified by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Lowery Brown, state Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Phila., and other caucus members drank water drawn the Schuylkill River that was treated by the Hydra. Members of the Academy of Natural Sciences verified that polluted water went into the machine and emerged clean.
"I and others took just a mouthful of water, but the Hydra can clean 20,000 gallons of water a day," Lowery Brown said. "That can quench the thirst of many people."
The device also separates hydrogen from water, which was burned on an adapted gas stove at the academy. Another byproduct of the Hydra is medical-grade oxygen.
Ward Larkin, a Benjamin Franklin interpreter who dressed in period costume, explained how electricity was first harnessed and watched how the power of the sun can be used to make power and clean water.