5102018ill Gates, founder of Microsoft and one of the richest men in the world, cannot stop
talking about toilets. It may not be the most exciting topic, but considering there
are over two billion people who do not have safe sanitation
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systems, it is a hot buttonissue
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. In fact, over 500,000 people die each year due to diseases related to unclean
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conditions.
(^) Gates spoke about this problem at the Reinvented Toilet Expo in November 2018. The
expo showed 20 reinvented toilets designed to destroy harmful
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bacteria and prevent
diseases. These toilets do this by combining clever design and engineering to separate solid
and liquid waste. What s more, they don t use water, making them useful in areas that don t
have a water supply or sewer
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systems. One of the leading designs is the Nano Membrane
Toilet. It turns solid waste into dry pellets and urine into usable water for purposes like watering
crops.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has invested
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about $200 million in sanitation-related
projects, with plans to add another $200 million towards further research and development.
Words & Phrases^
- sanitation [ :sAnJ`teSJn ] n.
- hot button issue n.
Immigration has become a hot button issue in
the US.
(^) 3. unclean [ Vn`klin ] a.
Drinking unclean water is dangerous to your
health.
- harmful [ `harmfJl ] a.
Staying up late every night is harmful to one s
health. - sewer [ `suK ] n.
- invest [ In`vEst ] vt.
It is risky to invest all your money in that new
company.
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