Having spent a considerable part of my navy career along side a wharf at the other Garden Island, I find that making the water drinkable is truly remarkable.
Back when I was there, Sydney Harbour was such a toxic soup that eating fish caught from their was considered a health risk.
"Using their own specially designed form of graphene, 'Graphair', CSIRO scientists have supercharged water purification, making it simpler, more effective and quicker.
The new filtering technique is so effective, water samples from Sydney Harbour were safe to drink after passing through the filter.
The breakthrough research was published today in Nature Communications.
"Almost a third of the world's population, some 2.1 billion people, don't have clean and safe drinking water," the paper's lead author, CSIRO scientist Dr Dong Han Seo said.
"As a result, millions – mostly children – die from diseases associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene every year.
"In Graphair we've found a perfect filter for water purification. It can replace the complex, time consuming and multi-stage processes currently needed with a single step."
