Combination of River Bank Filtration and Solar-driven Electro-Chlorination Assuring Safe Drinking Water Supply for River Bound Communities in India

Philipp Otter,Florian Benz,Sudhir Sharma,Prakash Kimothi,Thomas Grischek,Cornelius Sandhu,Pradyut Malakar,Gabriele Nüske,Martin Wagner,Alexander Goldmaier

doi:10.3390/w11010122

Abstract

The supply of safe drinking water in rural developing areas is still a matter of concern, especially if surface water, shallow wells, and wells with non-watertight headworks are sources for drinking water. Continuously changing raw water conditions, flood and extreme rainfall events, anthropogenic pollution, and lacking electricity supply in developing regions require new and adapted solutions to treat and render water safe for distribution. This paper presents the findings of a pilot test conducted in Uttarakhand, India, where a river bank filtration (RBF) well was combined with a solar-driven and online-monitored electro-chlorination system, treating fecal-contaminated Ganga River water. While the RBF well provided nearly turbidity- and pathogen-free water as well as buffered fluctuations in source water qualities, the electro-chlorination system provided disinfection based on the inline conversion of chloride to hypochlorous acid. The conducted sampling campaigns provided complete disinfection (>6.7 log) and the adequate supply of residual disinfectant (0.27 ± 0.17 mg/L). The system could be further optimized to local conditions and allows the supply of microbial-safe water for river bound communities, even during monsoon periods and under the low natural chloride regimes typical for this region.

Highlights

The Millennium Development Goal to halve the number of people without access to improved water sources was achieved in 2015—five years ahead of schedule
India showinthat theshow testedthat system poses asystem feasible alternative foralternative decentralized safe drinking safe drinking water supply forcommunities river boundincommunities developing serves as a water supply for river bound developing in countries
The installed filter capablereducing of further reducing already low values turbidity values and the ECl2

Summary

Introduction

The Millennium Development Goal to halve the number of people without access to improved water sources was achieved in 2015—five years ahead of schedule. 2.6 billion people gained access to improved water sources. There is substantial evidence that improved sources of drinking water, including piped water, can contain fecal contamination and studies estimate that. 1.8–2.0 billion people drink such water [1,2,3,4]. Water 2019, 11, 122 to having no access to safe drinking water. Technical expertise, user compliance, as well as the lack of supply of chemicals and electricity have been identified as reasons for the failure of rural water treatment and supply systems [5]. Point-of-use (PoU) treatment approaches are often considered as alternatives and have shown to reduce the risk of diarrheal infections by

Methods

Results

Conclusion