Venezuela hopes to have ready this year the prototype of a lake decontamination system that uses solar rays to destroy the toxic substances in the water — heterogeneous photocatalysis. “Water contaminants degrade with the increase in the speed of the chemical reaction between the compounds involved. The toxic organic molecules oxidize and generate ultra-pure water,” Juan Matos, a chemist with the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research and leader of the project that also involves Cuba, told Tierramérica.

While the Venezuelan experts will focus on the toxic chemicals, the Cubans will take on the microbiological angle — bacteria and viruses.

Small reactors would operate on energy from solar collectors, a technology that Matos hopes to apply in Maracaibo Lake.