Evaluation of A Point-Of Use Water Purification System (Llaveoz) in a Rural Setting of Chiapas, Mexico

Abstract

Access to potable water is a priority for highly-marginalized rural communities of Chiapas, Mexico where consumption of poorly sanitized water has fostered severe diarrheal diseases among children. Interventions aimed to reduce contaminants present in water are necessary to reduce morbidity and mortality rates. In this work we evaluated the efficiency of a point of use water purification system, Llaveoz, to eradicate total coliform (TC) bacteria and diarrheagenic E. coli (DEC) strains in 62 paired water samples obtained from households during the dry and rainy season. TC was determined by the membrane filtration method whereas DEC strains were evaluated by a multiplex PCR approach. After Llaveoz treatment, water samples collected during the dry season (N=20) had an 80.3% reduction of TC counts (p<0.05). Similarly, TC were significantly reduced (72.3%, (p<0.05)) in water samples treated during the rainy season (N=42). A total of 28 E. coli strains were isolated of which 14.3% (N=4) were identified as DEC strains (ETEC (N=2), EAEC (N=1) or EIEC (N=1)) in untreated water samples. Llaveoz-treated water did not contain DEC strains. Thus, the Llaveoz system represents an alternative method to obtain more pure water in regions where potable water sources are not available.