Abstract
In many developing countries no infrastructure for providing people with microbiological safe drinking water exists. This demands for decentralized water disinfection that is inexpensive and requires no consumables. The casualties are often recommended the application of SODIS for drinking water treatment. There are numerous scientific studies on this disinfection method, which however are still leaving questions on the mode of functioning which is often reduced to the effect caused by the UV part of the solar radiation and there is almost no discussion in the literature what happens to the disinfected water after the SODIS treatment.In this paper disinfection experiments with Escherichia coli in isotonic saline solutions and real surface water are performed for a set of realistic conditions for UVA irradiation and for heating but separated from each other. The results confirm that SODIS is based on the combined effect of UVA radiation and increased temperature. Further experiments lead to the recommendation that once disinfected water should be consumed without a large delay, otherwise the germ concentration rises again.Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol 4(4): 430-435
Highlights
Clean, germ-free water is taken for granted in industrialized countries
The casualties are often recommended the application of SODIS for drinking water treatment
UVA Radiation and Contaminated Saline Solution As expected, the bacteria concentration was significantly reduced by the UVA irradiation in both test waters
Summary
Germ-free water is taken for granted in industrialized countries. This is mainly achieved by a highly developed water treatment and close supervision. The infrastructures have been built up over decades but they are costly to maintain and require skilled professionals for the technical development and maintenance. Many developing and emerging countries have no or only regional infrastructures for water treatment and distribution. In 2011 the worldwide number of people without access to clean drinking water was about 768 million (WHO/UNICEF, 2012). The existing infrastructure for water treatment and distribution is usually only found in urban areas but the population in rural areas is not connected to any public water supply system because of the costs of its construction and maintenance
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