How to Purify Water with Moringa Seeds:

Household Water Purification

1. Allow the Moringa seed pods to dry naturally on the tree before harvesting them. 2. Remove the seed husks, leaving a whitish kernel. 3. Crush the seed kernels to a powder with a stone or mortar. . Mi! the powder with a small "uantity of #lean water in a small #up. $. %our the mi!ture through a tea strainer or sieve into a #up. &t's best to #over the strainer with a pie#e of #lean #loth. (. Add the resulting milky fluid to the water you wish to purify. ). *tir "ui#kly for 3+ se#onds, then slowly and regularly for five minutes. ,. Cover the water and do not disturb it for at least an hour. -. .he #lean water may be siphoned or poured off the top of the #ontainer. $+/1$+ mg of ground Moringa seed treats one liter of water, depending on how #lear the water is. 0e suggest e!perimenting with amount of seeds and stirring times to find what works for you. .he seed #ake left over after e!tra#ting oil #an still be used for water purifi#ation.

Softening Hard Water

A study at the 1niversity of 2ew#astle/upon/.yne 3145 found that Moringa seeds not only purify water but also soften it.

Large Scale Water Purification

Arti#le #ourtesy &nter %ress *ervi#e, 0ashington, 6C5SCIENCE: VEGE !"LE P#$S M!% HELP S#LVE HI&$ W#&L$'S W! E& W#ES7y *usan 8itherland892692, :uly 1 , 1--$ 3&%*5 // 7ritish resear#hers say a vegetable pod whi#h grows on trees in Afri#a, Asia and 8atin Ameri#a may hold the key to solving a lot of the water problems in the developing world. 3Arti#le #ourtesy &nter %ress *ervi#e, 0ashington, 6C5SCIENCE: VEGE !"LE P#$S M!% HELP S#LVE HI&$ W#&L$'S W! E& W#ES7y *usan 8itherland892692, :uly 1 , 1--$ 3&%*5 // 7ritish resear#hers say a vegetable pod whi#h grows on trees in Afri#a, Asia and 8atin Ameri#a may hold the key to solving a lot of the water problems in the developing world. .he team of resear#hers at the 1niversity of 8ei#ester believe the vegetable pods, and the seeds they #ontain, #an help to provide safe, #heaply produ#ed drinking water that #ould save millions of people from disease or death, #aused by impure drinking water.About 1.3 billion people still

la#k safe drinking water and more than si! million #hildren die from diarrhea in developing #ountries every year.A##ording to the resear#hers, the tree on whi#h the pods grow, the Moringa oleifera is #ommon throughout Afri#a, Asia and 8atin Ameri#a. .hey also report that the tree is also a sour#e of nutritious vegetables be#ause the leaves and pods have a high protein #ontent and are ri#h in vitamins.7ut its potential as a water purifi#ation treatment has, until now, been almost totally overlooked..he resear#hers have found that when the seeds are dried, #rushed and added to water, the powder a#ts as a #oagulant binding the parti#les and ba#teria that make river water so murky, parti#ularly during rainy seasons. After a short while the #oagulated parti#les, known as flo#, sink to the bottom and #lear water #an be poured off..he ;,1$,+++ pro<e#t is funded by the 9verseas 6evelopment Administration 3the 7ritish government's aid arm5, and the 7russels/based =uropean Commission. &t works on the basis that opposites attra#t, e!plains >eoff ?olkard, one of the 7ritish s#ientists involved in the four/year, resear#h pro<e#t.@0hen mi!ed with water the #rushed seeds produ#e positively #harged proteins whi#h attra#t the negatively #harged parti#les and ba#teria. .he mi!ing a#tion #auses them to #ollide and sti#k to ea#h other,@ he said.8arge water treatment #enters do this by adding #hemi#al #oagulants to the water su#h as aluminum sulphate 3alum5, but in the developing world these are fre"uently unavailable or too e!pensive..he team's e!perimental work at .hyolo in southern Malawi last year found the seeds gave purifi#ation results @<ust as good as those obtained with #ommer#ial #hemi#als@ by removing -+ to --.- per#ent of the ba#teria as well as #learing the water of solids. 0hile natural #oagulants have been used for #enturies at a household level in some parts of the world, su#h as *udan and &ndonesia, this is the first time they are being tried on a large s#ale and in #ontinuous flow treatment.&n Malawi in 1--3, imported #hemi#als from *outh Afri#a #ost the 0ater 1tilities more than ;( +,+++ in valuable foreign e!#hange. *ays ?olkard, @.he seeds do their <ob at a fra#tion of the #ost.Many #ountries #ould save huge amounts of money by adopting these ideas.@ 9nly two level teaspoons of #rushed seeds are needed to treat a bu#ket of water 3about 2+ liters5.Mansoor Ali 8alani of the 0ater, =ngineering and 6evelopment Center at the 1niversity of 8oughborough is not so #onvin#ed. @& think that provided 3si#5 is produ#ed lo#ally and is available lo#ally it remains a better alternative to Moringa. &t #reates larger flo#s so the settlement is very "ui#k.@And, he adds that depending on the water "uality, less alum is needed per liter 33$ milligrams #ompared with 1$+ milligrams of seed5.Ae does #on#ede however that re#ent studies have indi#ated that alum residue in water may be #ar#inogeni#, however, no harmful effe#ts have been shown to #ome from Moringa.0hether water is treated with #onventional #oagulants or the seeds, some harmful mi#ro/organisms will remain whi#h must be removed either by #hlorination, simple sand filters, or in households by boiling..he Moringa is a tough tree that survives in poor soils and uses its deep tap root to survive long periods of drought. =asy to propagate from seeds and #uttings, it grows rapidly to si! meters in height and #an flower and fruit in one year.&t seems to be a bit of a wonder plant be#ause all parts are used in traditional medi#ines and the powdered seed is mi!ed with ointment to treat #ommon ba#terial skin infe#tions.&t is also a good sour#e of fuelwood and fodder for #attle and is suitable for agro/ forestry be#ause it does not throw heavy shade that prevents other #rops from growing beneath its bran#hes. ?olkard is also #onfident that it #an be easily #ontrolled so that it does not be#ome invasive and push out native flora.7ut the benefits do not end there. .he resear#hers are also looking at the tree's potential as a sour#e of #ooking oil. .he seeds #ontain + per#ent of oil by weight and it gives a higher yield per he#tare than either sunflower or ground nuts..he team has also found that the dry residue left after pressing loses none of its #oagulant properties. &t #an also be dried and stored for later water treatment as a low/#ost by/produ#t of e!tra#tion.@Moringa

oil is of high "uality and has a high market value both for #ooking and as the main ingredient in soap manufa#ture,@ points out ?olkard. @.he demand for oil in Malawi is greater than present produ#tion so soya bean oil is having to be imported from *outh Ameri#a.0hi#h makes the #ultivation of Moringa an attra#tive proposition for #ommer#ial farmers. &n #ollaboration with 8ei#ester, the &ntermediate .e#hnology 6evelopment >roup 3&.6>5 of Bimbabwe has set up 1) small mills appropriate for small s#ale rural pro#essing to test this idea.&t has #on#luded that the mills return an average of $1 per#ent on investment with profits of 21 per#ent on sales. Bimbabwe's %lant 9il %rodu#ers Asso#iation has already e!pressed interest in trial plots. *ays ?olkardC @.he Moringa is a #lassi# e!ample of the .hird 0orld produ#ing what it does not #onsume and in#reasingly #onsuming what it does not produ#e.@.he 8ei#ester team are keen that small land holders also should be en#ouraged to grow the Moringa @as it will improve both their health and in#ome.@ 9ne tree would provide enough water treatment for five to si! people for a year.?inding out whether #onsumers will like the oil is future work for the &.6>, while in 4enya the ?orestry Resear#h &nstitute will look into Moringa tree management. ?or his part ?olkard intends pushing ahead with implementation studies, possibly in 7raDil, .anDania and Bimbabwe. A better supply of water for thirsty people in the .hird 0orld rests on the final out#ome. Ri#hard Carter of the water management department at Cranfield 1niversity states, @.his is a pro<e#t that #ommands our respe#t. 0e are sure it will be useful and relevant to the developing world.@

*our#eC >lobal Applied Resear#h 2etwork 3>AR2=.5 httpCEEinfo.lut.a#.ukEdepartmentsE#vEwed#EgarnetEwares.html Moringa 9leifera as a 2atural Coagulant >4 ?olkard, :% *utherland, MA Mtawali and 06 >rant, 1niversity of 8ei#ester, 1nited 4ingdom Abstra#t &n many parts of the world river water whi#h #an be highly turbid is used for drinking purposes. .his turbidity is #onventionally removed by treating the water with e!pensive #hemi#als, many of whi#h are imported at great e!pense. .his pro<e#t has investigated the use of #rushed seeds from the tree Moringa oleifera as a natural alternative to these #onventional #hemi#als. Results were obtained from a full s#ale water treatment plant at .hyolo in *outhern Malawi whi#h demonstrate that the seeds redu#e the turbidity of the raw water by ,+ per #ent leaving a #lear, very low turbidity water. .his applied resear#h pro<e#t has shown that turbid waters #an be #larified to the same degree a#hieved by imported #hemi#als by using a natural substan#e whi#h #an be pur#hased lo#ally from villagers. 7a#kground 2atural #oagulants have been used for #enturies in traditional water treatment pra#ti#es throughout #ertain areas of the developing world. Although a native spe#ies of northern &ndia, the tree is now grown e!tensively throughout the tropi#s and is found in many #ountries of Afri#a, Asia and *outh Ameri#a. Moringa trees have

the #apa#ity to grow rapidly from seeds or #uttings, even in poor, marginal soilsF re"uire little horti#ultural attention and are resilient to the effe#ts of e!tended drought. ?or water treatment purposes, the seed pods are allowed to dry naturally on the tree prior to harvesting. After shelving the seeds are #rushed and sieved using traditional te#hni"ues employed in the produ#tion of maiDe flour. Appro!imately $+/1$+ mg of ground seed will be needed to treat a litre of river water, depending on the "uantity of suspended matter. A small amount of #lean water is then mi!ed with the #rushed seed to form a paste. 6osing is usually a##ording to a 1/3 per #ent solution. .he #rushed seed powder, when added to water, yields water soluble proteins that possess a net positive #harge. .he solution therefore a#ts as a natural #ationi# polyele#trolyte during treatment 3*utherland, :.%., ?olkard, >.4. and >rant, 0.6., 31--+5. .ransferring from the individual household to the #ontinuous flow water treatment works has been one of the primary tasks of the 1niversity of 8ei#ester's work. 8arge s#ale water treatment works .he 1niversity of 8ei#ester's work involved a pilot water treatment works at .hyolo in *outhern Malawi, built within the grounds of the main treatment works. .he sour#e river used during the resear#h showed turbidity levels in e!#ess of ++ 2.1. *olids removal within the plant was above -+ per #ent following a gravel bed flo##ulation stage and plain horiDontal flow sedimentation. A last rapid gravity sand filtration gave a final, treated water turbidity measure generally below $ 2.1. 6osing levels of Moringa oleifera seed varied between )$/2$+ mg depending on initial raw turbidity. ?ollowing the results from the pilot works, permission for full s#ale trials at the main water treatment plant was subse"uently re#eived from the Malawian authorities. .he .hyolo works #onsist of upflow #onta#t #larifiers followed by rapid gravity filters. *oda ash and alum solutions are introdu#ed to the in#oming water flow via gravity feed systems at great e!pense 3annually a #harge of G2(,+++ is made for importing these #hemi#als from *outh Afri#a5. Moringa oleifera for the full s#ale trials were pur#hased lo#ally from villagers at a fra#tion of this #ost. Results .he results of two typi#al trials are given in ?igure 1 and ?igure 2 below. .he works were operated at (+m3Ehour with the #oagulant solution dosed and monitored using a small #entrifugal pump and rotameter respe#tively. .he results of dosing Moringa oleifera seed solution at )$ mgElitre over a seven hour period #ompares favourably with performan#e figures for alum dosing at $+mgElitre. .urbidity removal rates are appro!imately ,+ per #ent over both trials. Con#lusion .he results from the pilot and full s#ale trials indi#ate the viability of Moringa oleifera as a natural #oagulant for highly turbid river water. &nlet river turbidities in e!#ess of 2)+/3,+ 2.1 were #onsistently redu#ed to below 2.1 in the finished water. M.oleifera seed #ontains + per #ent by weight of oil, with the remaining press#ake #ontaining the a#tive ingredients for natural #oagulation. .he high market value for the oil make the #ase for

promoting the #ultivation of the seed a strong one. .he growth of M. oleifera trees by smallholder farmers should be a#tively promoted as a means of providing vegetables and raw material for oil e!tra#tion in addition to a simple, but effe#tive natural #oagulant for turbid river water. 1sing Moringa oleifera as a repla#ement #oagulant for proprietary #oagulants meets the need for water and wastewater te#hnology in developing #ountries whi#h is simple to use, robust and #heap to both install and maintain. ?urther readingC ?olkard, >.4., *utherland, :.%. and >rant, 0.6., 1--+. 2atural #oagulants for appropriate water treatmentC a novel approa#h, 0aterlines, April, , 3 5, 3+/32 .ravis, H.=., *utherland, :.%., I ?olkard, >.4., Aigh Rate Conta#t ?lo##ulation / ?iltration 1sing 2atural Coagulants, ?irst &nternational Conferen#e =nvironmental =ngineering, Hol 2, )/$ , 21/ 23 *ept 1--3, 6e Montfort 1niversity, 8ei#ester, 1.4. Aolmes, R.>.A., ?olkard, >.4., .ravis, H.=., I *utherland, :.%. 2atural Coagulants in 0astewater .reatment, ?irst &nternational Conferen#e =nvironmental =ngineering Hol 2, )/$ , 21/23 *ept 1--3, 6e Montfort 1niversity, 8ei#ester, 1.4.

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