Household Water Treatment

Options & Processes

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 Treatment Process
Objective: Pathogen elimination

Sedimentation Filtration Disinfection

• Three step process

• Always follows this order
 Treatment Options
Water
Treatment

Communal Household
Treatment Treatment

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Conventional Communal Systems
• Mostly surface water supply (rivers)
• Large systems – supply, treatment plant,
pressurization, distribution
• Costly - capital and operating
• Government or privately funded and operated
• Users pay some costs but frequently subsidized
• High water use - 80-200 liters/person/day
• Waste water disposal needs to be part of design

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 Community Water
Treatment Plants

Sediment Settling Pond

Settling Units

Chinese City Water Plant

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12/06
Small Community Slow Sand Filter 6
 Household Water Treatment
• User control & responsibility
• More water sources available to user
• Reduced water wastage
(non-pipe system reduces water leakage)
• Faster installation
• Entry point for hygiene & sanitation education
• Cost effective

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 First Step: Sedimentation
• Settling
• Coagulation &
flocculation
 Settling

• Proper storage for 24 hrs can reduce

bacteria by up to 50 %
• Three pot settling
• Large containers – tanks, barrels
• Surface collection – ponds, lakes

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1. Inlet dirty water
2. Partly settled
3. Clear – ready to use
Decant each container
after a period of settling
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 Coagulation & Flocculation

• Additives to encourage settlement of

suspended particles
• Forms larger particles which precipitate
(fall to the bottom) in the water
• Can be easily removed by settling or
filtration

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 Coagulants
• Alum (aluminum sulphate)
• PAC (poly aluminum chloride – liquid alum)
• Other aluminum or iron salts – i.e. ferric sulphate
• Natural plants:
– Moringa oleifera – Guatemala, Africa, India
– Stychnos potatorum, Vetiveria zizanoides (khus),
cardamom – India
– Raquet (cactus) – Haiti, Latin America
– Vicia fava (dried beans)
and Percica vulgaris (peach seeds)
– Bolivia and other countries

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 Coagulants
Natural plants:

Moringa seed Cactus

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 Second Step: Filtration
• Central component of any treatment process
• Reduces larger micro organisms and
suspended solids
• Provides the clarity of water needed for
disinfection
• Can reduce pathogen level to below
infectious doses

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 Filtration Options
• Cloth Straining
• Rapid sand filter
• UNICEF Upward Flow
• Cartridge Filters
• Ceramic Filters
• Conventional Slow
Sand filter
• BioSand Filter
 Cloth Straining
Up to 50 % reduction using
eight layers of Sari cloth

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 Rapid Sand Filter
• Coarse sand grains
• Straining mechanism
• Uses entire sand bed to remove particles
• Operates under pressure to push water
through sand
• Requires vigorous reverse flow of water to
clean

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i
l
t
e
r
s

Household Rapid Sand Filter

 Depth of down-flow
filters generally
impractical for
household use
 Requires pressure
i.e. electric pumps, or
gravity feed

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UNICEF Upward Flow Sand Filter

Designed to
reduce
backwashing
Complex
Design
Not effective
at removing all
pathogens

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 Spiral Wound Cartridge and
Charcoal Filter

– Two 5-gallon plastic buckets

– Contains particulate and carbon
filter
– Water is chlorinated before
filtration
– Designed to provide drinking
water for up to 10 people per
day

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 ADVANTAGES
• Encourages use of chlorine
• Removes sediment
• Lightweight
• Affordable ($ 35 US)

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 LIMITATIONS
• Both particle filter and charcoal filter
require replacement periodically.
• Parts acquired from US ($ 20 plus
shipping)
• Users left to decide when to replace parts.
• Carbon filter becomes breeding ground for
bacteria once it is inactivated.

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 Ceramic Filters

• Centuries old
• Variety of models/designs
• Effectiveness dependent on pore size

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 Ceramic Candle Filters

Stefani Candle - Brazil

Katadyn Candle - Switzerland

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 Commercial
Ceramic Filters

Katadyne Ceramic Candle Filter Stainless Steel w/Ceramic Candles

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 Potters for Peace Silver Coated
Ceramic Filters / FILTRON
• Porous clay filter
saturated with colloidal
silver
• Ceramic or plastic
receiver with spigot
• Made by local craftsmen

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 Advantages
• Inexpensive ($10 - 40)
• Supports local craftsmen
• Sustainable – minimal
outside resources
• Water tastes good
• Removes most pathogens
and suspended solids
• Easy to use

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 Limitations

• Low flow rate (1-2 liters/hr)

• Fragile – easy to crack
• May allow flow of bad water through
undetected cracks
• Turbid water results in plugging of the filter.
• Cleaning results in removal of ceramic layer. This
eventually results in replacing filter.
• Quality of locally made filters difficult to ensure

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 Household Continuous Flow Filter

Operation &
Maintenance requires
careful attention

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BioSand Filter
Removes microbiologic
contaminants
highest cause of death &
disease in the world

KANCHAN Filter
(Nepal) designed to
remove arsenic

12/06 30
 BioSand Filter
• Innovation on a
conventional communal
slow sand filter.
• Developed at University
of Calgary in early 1990s
• Promoted by Davnor –
CAWST
• Intermittently operated
• Media prepared from
locally available sand
• Filter box locally made
of concrete
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 Flow rate capacity
• 0.6 litre/minute maximum
• Maximum daily output 80 litres/day
• Sufficient for minimum household (family
of 6) requirement: 10 litres/day/person

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 Advantages
• Removes over 98% bacteria, 100%
parasites
• Removes turbidity, some iron,
manganese
• Cost $12-35 US
• High flow rate
• No on-going costs – no replaceable
parts
• Durable & robust - lasts forever
• Fabricated from local materials
• Opportunity for local businesses
• Water tastes & looks good
• Easy
12/06 to operate & maintain 33
 Limitations
• High turbidity (> 100 NTU) will cause filter
to clog and require more maintenance
• Requires that the filter be used regularly to
maintain biological layer
• Cannot remove colour or dissolved
compounds

12/06 34
 BioSand Filter Survey of Implementers

33 NGO’s working in 26 developing countries

 23 currently implementing BSF’s (blue)
 10 still gathering resources to begin implementation (red)
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 Third Step: Disinfection

• Final kill
• Requires clear water
• Chemical or Ultraviolet
Light (UV)

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 Chemical Disinfection
• Chlorine, bromine, iodine
• Ozone
• Oxidation process that bursts the cell walls
of the pathogens

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 Chlorine Advantages
• Inexpensive - $ 0.40 to 0.80 US / family-
month
• Easy to use at a household level
• Kills bacteria and viruses effectively
• Residual chlorine protects water for a
period of time

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 Chlorine Limitations
• Requires clear water to be most effective (chemical
dosage varies with water quality)
• Not effective at killing protozoa (protozoic cysts)
• Taste unacceptable to some
• Chlorine forms complex compounds with organic
material which may be detrimental to health over
time
• Contact time required
• Requires that user purchase chlorine continuously
• Chlorine degrades with time

12/06 39
 CDC* Safe Water System
• Marketing system to make people
associate safe water with chlorine
• Manufacture & distribute chlorine
• Encourages use of appropriate storage
container
• Developed in response to cholera
outbreak in Peru, 1992
* Centre for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia

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 CDC – Safe Water System
(sodium hypochlorite)

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 Ultra Violet Disinfection
• Requires electricity • Effective
• Initial Cost ($ 16 –150) • Large volumes of
• Requires replacement bulbs flowing water

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 SOlar Water DISinfection

SODIS uses locally available

resources
• developing countries have
plenty of sunlight
• sunlight is abundant and free
of charge
• plastic bottles are often a
waste produc Inactivation of microorganism by
UV-A- radiation and thermal treatment

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 5 steps to safe water

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 1- get bottles (1-2 litres capacity, not more
than 10 cm diameter)

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 2 – remove the labels and clean the
bottles

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 3 – fill the bottles all the way to the
top

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 4 – place the bottles on a sunny
place for a day

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 5. Enjoy SODIS water

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 Advantages
• Kills most pathogens
• Simple & easy to handle
• Low cost per household
• No consumables required
• Convenient for storage and transportation
• Reduced risk of recontamination
• No chemical change in water

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 Limitations
• Water needs to be clear
• Can’t remove suspended particles or
dissolved compounds
• Requires bright sunlight
• Sunlight period required (6-12 hrs)
• Warm water
• Several bottles needed per day

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 Pasteurization
• Heating and holding
temperature until
pathogens are killed off
• Boiling is not required
• Temperature indicator is
needed – thermometer or
WAPI

Indicator falls through

melted wax when
temperature is reached

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a
t
i
o
n

Solar Pasteurization – commercial unit –

temperature control valve
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 Household Pasteurization
AquaPak
• Black plastic bag with
bubble pack insulating layer
• Set in sun until heats to
pasteurizing temperature
• Built in WAPI
• Up to 12 litres per day if
sun intensity is high
• About $20 US
• http://www.solarsolutions.info/products/prod
uctsright.html
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 Boiling water
• 1 minute at sea level,
add 1 minute
per 1000 m altitude
• Heat kills all pathogens

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 ADVANTAGES
• Kills all pathogens
• Simple
• Common knowledge
• Locally available materials

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 LIMITATIONS
It is estimated that
• Inefficient 1% of Djarkarta’s
• Requires much energy GDP is spent by its
residents boiling
• Contributes to indoor water.
pollution and deforestation
• Costly and time consuming
• Doesn’t remove suspended
or dissolved compounds
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 PuR Water Purifier
• Proctor and Gamble product
• Small packet containing coagulant, flocculent and
disinfectant
• Add content to water and stir
• Sediment settles quickly to the bottom of the container
• Strain to remove suspended particles
• http://www.pghsi.com/communications/pur.htm

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 ADVANTAGES
• Robust removal of microbial and chemical
contaminants, even in turbid waters
• Clarifies water
• Well accepted and easy to use by consumers
• Requires educational reinforcement for consumer
habit change
• Requires outside supply of chemical – cost and
logistics
Current price of about $US 0.01 per liter of treated
water is acceptable in initial markets

12/06 59
 LIMITATIONS
• Requires educational reinforcement for
consumer habit change
• Requires outside supply of chemical – cost and
logistics
• Educational efforts including product
demonstrations are necessary to encourage a
consumer habit change

12/06 60
 Distillation
• Used with salt water supply
• Small quantities of water
(1-2 L/day)
• High energy input
• Water Cone
www.watercone.com/product.html

• AquaCone
www.solarsolutions.info/products/productsright.html

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 Distillation (Brazil )

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 Solar Distillation

Planet Kerala, India

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 Review
Treatment Processes

Sedimentation Filtration Disinfection

 Straining  Rapid Sand  Chemical

 Storage &  Slow Sand  Solar
Settlement
 Ceramic  Ultra-Violet
 Coagulation &
 Biosand  Boiling
Flocculation
 PuR
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