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Evaluation of the potential of using solar energy to pasteurize drinking

water: Using Escherichia coli (E. coli) as an indicator.

NORMAN MHAZO, NKOSINGIPHILE DLAMINI, ABEDNEGO M. DLAMINI and

MICHAEL T. MASARIRAMBI

#Corresponding Author: Tel: +268 527 4021/3 Ext 1151; Fax: +268 527 4441.

E-mail: mhazon@agric.uniswa.sz or mhazo1092@yahoo.co.uk

ABSTRACT

The potential of panel solar cookers in inactivating bacteria in drinking water, using

Escherichia coli (E. coli) as an indicator species, was investigated. Bacterial contaminated

water was collected from Mzimnene River in Manzini region of Swaziland. Water samples

were put in panel solar cookers and exposed to solar radiation for different time intervals

(0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 minutes). Changes in water temperature and E. coli counts

(cfu/ml) were monitored for each sample. The standard solid plating procedure for

enumerating bacteria was used. The results showed rapid decline in bacteria count when

water temperature reached about 55oC and this was attained within 2 hours of exposure to

solar radiation. The findings suggest that there is potential in using panel solar cookers to

inactivate bacteria in drinking water. It is recommended that further investigations be

conducted at a larger scale and evaluated under different climatic conditions.

Keywords: Drinking water, Escherichia coli (E. coli), panel solar cooker

____________________________________________________________________________________________
Norman Mhazo is a Lecturer in Sanitation and Waste Management at the University of Swaziland’s
department of Agricultural and Bio-systems Engineering. Nkosingiphile Dlamini is an Agriculture teacher at
Mhlatane High School. Abednego Dlamini is Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry at the University of
Swaziland’s department of Animal Production and Health. Michael Masarirambi is a Lecturer in Fruit and
Vegetable Production at the University of Swaziland’s department of Horticulture.
_________________________________________________________________________

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Despite the effort made by the government of Swaziland to provide essential services to the

people, a large proportion of the country’s population, especially in the rural areas, still lack

access to clean and safe drinking water. The problem becomes more severe in years of

drought which result in water sources not filling up to adequate capacities. In very dry

years, people resort to fetching water from unprotected wells, rivers and open reservoirs.

For example, in 1997, accessibility to clean water in the country was estimated at 84% in

the urban areas and 33% in rural areas (FAO, 2005). The achievement of the UN

Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, still

remain a pipe dream as around one billion people in the world lack access to safe drinking

water; a component that is intricately linked to the MDG (Varis, 2007).

Water from unprotected sites is often contaminated with pathogens, like bacteria,

helminths, protozoa and viruses that cause water borne diseases such as diarrhoea,

dysentery, typhoid, and cholera (Metcalf, 1993). These diseases are a major cause of

millions of deaths every year around the world, especially in developing countries (Hrudey

et al., 2006). According to Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ( 2009), the

recent outbreak of cholera reported by health officials in Zimbabwe has claimed 3, 181

lives out of an estimated 61, 304 suspected cases between August , 2008 and January, 2009.

Cases of cholera have been reported in all of Zimbabwe’s provinces and the disease has

since spread to the neighbouring countries of Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and

Zambia. Additional sources have reported cases in Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic

of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau and Togo. Cholera is a

potentially fatal bacterial infection that spread through untreated sewage and contaminated

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drinking water. There is no cholera vaccine available, however, this disease can be

prevented by practising basic hygiene and drinking boiled water.(CDC, 2009).

At global level, an estimated five million children under five years of age die each year

because of diarrhoeal diseases related to unsafe water (Metcalf, 1993). In 2004, the United

Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health

Organization (WHO) estimated that about 60% and 23% of families in rural and urban

settlements, respectively; do not have access to safe and clean water for domestic use. This

translated to about 1.1 billion people not having access to microbiologically safe drinking

water (UNICEF and WHO, 2004).

The primary sources of bacteria, which pose the greatest danger to public health, in

drinking water are human and animal waste. The waste gets into the water supply system

through runoff water from pastures, feedlots and other land areas where animal and human

waste are deposited. Other sources of water contamination are insects, rodents and other

animals that enter into water systems and seepage or discharge from sewage water

treatment plants, latrines and septic tanks. The provision of microbiologically safe water

should therefore be coupled with proper sanitation such as ventilated improved pit latrines.

In Swaziland, the levels of sanitation are low. About 36% of the rural population and about

60 % in urban settlements have sanitary excreta disposal facilities (Busari, 1998). Many

people are, therefore, predisposed to water-borne disease causing organisms.

In cases of outbreaks of water-borne diseases, health ministries recommend that people boil

water for up to ten minutes before drinking (Metcalf, 1993). Boiling water requires energy,

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the major sources of which are firewood, coal, paraffin and electricity. These energy

sources are not only scarce but are expensive for an average poor family and also some of

them result in environmental pollution. A great deal of time and effort is required to walk

long distances to fetch firewood, a resource which is rapidly dwindling.The heat and smoke

associated with wood fire also cause discomfort and irritation in the kitchen (Skipton,

1998). Paraffin and electricity costs are rocketing up now and are unlikely to come down

again, except perhaps for temporary short-term fluctuations. Modern water treatment

techniques like chlorination, ozonation, or ultraviolet light systems could be too expensive

for rural communities to acquire and maintain. It is within this challenge that it becomes

imperative to explore alternative sources of energy that complement the conventional ones

and contribute to environmental protection.

While they are not a panacea, solar based technologies represent one important choice in an

increasing array of energy options. For example, solar cooking technology has made a huge

contribution towards addressing the problems associated with using firewood in developing

countries. Various types of solar cooking devices exist. The simplest of them all is the panel

solar cooker, the Cookit, developed by Solar Cookers International (SCI, Sacramento, CA,

USA), as an alternative cooking device for refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia (Safapour

and Metcalf, 1999) and other energy deficient regions. The Cookit (Figure 1) is made from

aluminised cardboard sheeting which is folded into multiple reflecting surfaces to

concentrate solar radiation onto a central space where the cooking vessel is kept. Heating

efficiency is improved by positioning the reflective surfaces to directly face the sun. This

design of a panel solar cooker is considered the simplest and least expensive; however, it

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can heat material up to 125ºC when the ambient temperature is over 20ºC (Technology For

Life (TFL), 1997). A recent study has demonstrated the potential application of the panel

solar cooker in reducing urease activity in full fatty soyabeans (Nyoni et al., 2005).

Application of solar energy in drying systems was seen to retain high levels of ascorbic

acid (Vitamin C) in dried Roselle , Hibiscus sabdariffa L ( Miranda et al., 2008).

Figure 1. The SCI Cookit design.

The cooking process in the panel solar cooker is accomplished by enclosing a black

cooking vessel in an airtight clear polypropylene bag and placing it in the centre of the

cooker. The reflecting surfaces bounce and concentrate solar radiation to the vessel. The

polypropylene bag allows light waves to pass through and hit the vessel. The vessel absorbs

light waves and radiates them as heat waves (infra-red). Heat waves cannot escape through

transparent surfaces; hence the air trapped by the polypropylene bag heats up and provides

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a hot air-jacket that heats the vessel continuously. This study aimed at diversifying the

application of panel solar cookers to include pasteurisation of drinking water. The main

objective was to evaluate the efficacy of panel solar cookers in inactivating bacteria in

water.

This study was designed to answer the following questions:

1. How can bacteria contaminated water be made safe to drink in a practical and less

expensive way?

2. What water temperatures are attainable in panel solar cookers?

3. Does exposing water to solar radiation inactivate bacteria in water under local

environment?

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MATERIALS AND METHODS

This experiment was conducted over four successive months at the University of

Swaziland, Luyengo Campus (altitude 754 m, longitude E 31.18o, latitude S 26.58o)

between January and April 2008. Laboratory analyses were conducted in the Department of

Animal Production and Health of the same university.

Equipment

The equipment used in the experiment included; six panel solar cookers and transparent

polypropylene bags, six black plastic water bottles (800 ml), 100°C thermometer, 10-litre

plastic bucket, incubator, autoclave, digital balance, water bath, disposable petri dishes,

screw cap sample bottles, 500ml conical Erlenmeyer flasks and 1ml disposable pipettes.

Reagents

The chemical reagents used were eosin methelyne blue agar (EMB) (Levine CM 0069

Oxoid Ltd., Basingstoke, Hampshire, England), ringer (Oxoid, Ltd, England) solution and

ethanol.

Water sampling

Water samples were collected from Mzimnene River in Manzini, Swaziland. Water samples

were taken from a point where local vendors collect water for washing fruits and

vegetables. The water was collected aseptically using a sterile 10-litre plastic bucket. The

bucket was submerged in the centre of the river to ensure the sample was clear of

contaminants from the river banks. The bucket was immediately closed and kept from

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direct sunlight. The samples were transported to the laboratory at the Luyengo Campus

where they were stored at 4oC until studied. Escherichia coli were enumerated using the

standard procedure for E. coli counts adapted from Feng et al., (2002). The analyses were

conducted within 24 hours of water sampling.

Media preparation and enumeration of colonies

One ringer tablet was dissolved in 500 ml of distilled water in a conical Erlenmeyer flask.

Then 9ml of the ringer solution were transferred into screw caped sample bottles and

autoclaved at 121°C for 15 minutes before use in diluting samples. Dilutions that yielded

between 30 and 300 colony forming units were.

Eosin methylene blue (EMB) agar was used as the enumeration media. The basal and

overlay method (Hartman et al., 1975) was adapted and plates were incubated at 37oC for

48 hours. E. coli colonies were detected by their ability to ferment glucose and produce

dark centred metallic sheen green colonies (Feng et al., 2002).

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Solar water pasteurisation

The experiment started at 1100 hours and ended at 1300 hours and was carried out in four

successive months to determine the potential of using solar pasteurisation in different

weather regimes hoping that each month would present a different weather condition.

The panel solar cookers were placed in an open space free from shading for maximum

reception of solar radiation. The vertical reflective sections were secured in some slits on

each side of the front piece and were held in position by fasteners. The panel solar cookers

were placed such that the vertical reflective section faced the direction of the sun to

maximize incident radiation. Six black plastic water bottles (800ml) were filled with water

samples and were enclosed in airtight polypropylene plastic bags. Each bottle was placed in

the centre of a panel solar cooker. The black bottle absorbed solar radiation and radiated

heat to the water and to the outside entrapped air. The heated air acted as an insulator that

helped to continuously heat the water. The panel solar cookers were placed such that the

triangular slot in the front piece was in line with the operator’s shadow when standing right

in front of the device as commonly done when solar cooking. The devices were

repositioned approximately every hour to keep trek of the position of the sun.

Water bottles were withdrawn at random after 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 minutes of

panel solar heating. The temperature of the water was measured, using a thermometer,

concurrently at the removal of the sample from the panel solar cooker. The water was

cooled in a refrigerator to a workable temperature before laboratory analysis.

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On each day of the study, the weather information was obtained and recorded. The mean

ambient conditions were conducive for solar water heating with average maximum

temperature of 25.4 +1.8 oC (sd), 9.3 +1.3 (sd) sunshine hours and average wind speed of

2.1 +1.3 meters per hour.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Effect of duration of exposure to solar radiation on water temperature.

The changes in water temperature, with exposure time duration to solar radiation, are

shown in Figure 1. In all the months, water temperatures above 65°C were reached within

the three hours of exposure. The highest water temperature of 93°C, was achieved in the

month of February after 2 ½ hours to solar radiation .

100

90

80
C)

70
o
Water Temperature (

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 30 60 90 120 150 180
Exposure Time (mins)

January February March April

Figure 1. Water temperatures ( oC) attained at different durations of exposure to solar

radiation.

The pooled average water temperatures for the four months and the decline in E. coli

counts show a negative correlation (r = -0.926) between E. coli count and water temperature

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(Figure 2.) There was a steady increase in water temperature from the beginning of the

experiment, reaching temperatures above 60°C within 1 ½ hours. The temperature reached

a peak above 80°C within 2 ½ hours and then declined towards the end of the third hour of

exposure. The rate of E. coli inactivation was gradual in the first hour, the count dropped by

0.35-log. There was a highly significant (P<0.01) in the E. coli count from the time the

water temperature reached 65.5°C (Table 1). Complete E. coli inactivation was achieved

when the water temperature reached 77°C. Safapour and Metcalf (1999), recorded

complete E. coli inactivation when the water temperature reached 60°C. In the food

industry, most coliform species have been observed to be heat sensitive with D- values of

less than 2 minutes at temperatures between 54 -65 oC (Juneja and Marmer, 1999, Otieza

et al., 2003, Denis et al.,2006). It is possible that complete E. coli inactivation was reached

soon after rapid decline in counts was recorded at 65.5°C.

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100 2.5
95
90
85 2
80
75

E. coli count (Log 10 cfu/ml)


Water Temperature ( C)

70
o

65 1.5
60
55
50 1
45
40
35 0.5
30
25
20
15 0
10
5
0 -0.5
0 30 60 90 120 150 180
Exposure Time (mins.)

Water Temperature (oC ) E. coli count (Log10)

Fig. 2. Water Temperature (°C) and E. coli inactivation (log10 cfu/ml) with time of

exposure to solar radiation.

Table 1. E. coli inactivation (log10 cfu/ml) with changes in water temperature (°C)

Exposure time (minutes) 0 30 60 90 120 150 180


Mean water temperature (°C) 18.75 43.50 55.25 65.50 77.00 81.50 77.75
Mean E.coli (log10 cfu/ml) 2.00a 1.75a 1.65a 0.70b < 0.1c <0.1c 0.1 <0.1c

Means followed by the same letter are not significantly different at LSD 0.05

NB Not possible to calculate D- value and z-value because treatments were not kept at

constant temperatures

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CONCLUSION

More often, health officials recommend boiling drinking water for up to 10 minutes in

order to kill disease causing bacteria. This study has demonstrated that water temperatures

high enough to achieve complete pasteurisation can be attained within the Cookit. The

study was conducted in the wet season of the year in most days are partly cloudy. This is

also the period when waterborne disease outbreaks are a threat. The effective performance

of the Cookit in a period when bacterial contamination is expected to be high, suggest that

the device is a potential practical alternative to other sources of energy used to inactivate

bacteria in drinking water. There is, however, need to run a study of this nature over longer

periods under different weather and climatic conditions.

The small quantities of water that can be treated in a day with a Cookit device, dependence

on good solar radiation and the need to manually refocus the reflectors to face the sun, are

limitations of the practical application of this technology. The Cookit can only process 6-7

litres of water per day leaving very little possibility of treating water for storage. The

Cookit does not work on cloudy days hence contingency measures to cater for such days

are needed. Higher capacity solar hot water systems, whose purpose is designed for other

domestic applications besides pasteurising drinking water, are available in the country.

These systems, though more expensive, could be exploited for use at community level.

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