SAT-171 USE OF A HOLLOW FIBER DIALYZER BASED DEVICE TO PROVIDE PURE WATER IN VILLAGES

Abstract

The provision of clean water to villages without power or functioning boreholes is difficult since inhabitants must rely on rainwater, wells, local streams and lakes. Fecal contamination of water, including of wells, is very common and results in high incidences of diarrhea, dehydration, acute kidney failure and death particularly in young children. An NGO, “Easy Water for Everyone” has been established to purify water to these villages utilizing a unique device which repurposes once used hollow fiber hemodialyzers as the means of filtering external water sources (Fig. 1). These are sterilized and assembled in parallel in a device. An 8 dialyzer device can produce pure water at a rate of 500L/hr with manual pumping and at 250L/hr with a gravitation system, which involves the use of a small gasoline pump that pumps polluted water to an elevated tank (Fig. 2). The pore size of a dialyzer membrane is 0.03 microns, which does not allow for passage of viruses, bacteria and parasites. Regular backwashing is needed, depending on the degree of sediment in the water, and protection from sunlight is achieved by using dark tubing in the device, to prevent algal growth. The high quantitative performance of the device is due to the presence of over 10,000 hollow fibers totaling a membrane surface area close to 2 square meters. The devices can be used to purify water from streams, lakes and from already contaminated wells and boreholes, and are established in a central location available to all in the village. When water in excess of drinking requirements is produced it can be used in for hand washing, which up to now has been impracticable in these islands. In many rural schools in many regions of the country clean water for hand-washing has not been available. We hope to encourage a practice of all children washing their hands as they arrive at school and after all uses of sanitation facilities and to further initiate educational initiatives informing on the important of hygiene. As of November 2018, 12 sites have been equipped with the device in Ghana: 3 in Ashanti-Ghana around Kumasi and 9 on different estuarial islands of the Volta River close to Big Ada. Records of diarrheal episodes in individual households and local clinics are included in a central database providing an analysis of public health effects of these devices on communities. Further, data collection and analysis will allow understanding of effect modifiers and possible roadblocks to their adequate use. Because of its efficiency and considerably low cost, the device is very suitable for the use in rural communities with limited infrastructure. The efficacy of the technology to remove pathogens from contaminated water is expected to substantially reduce the incidence of diarrhea and of AKI. The potential for rapid spread of this technology to the many villages without power is substantial, including those where well and borehole water is polluted. Marked improvement in hygiene is possible, simultaneously, resulting in a marked reduction in diarrheal illness and its serious consequences.Fig. 2View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download (PPT)