Study of the potential use of rainwater as clean water with simple media gravity filters: A review

Abstract

Clean water plays an essential role in all living things. However, the availability of clean water in Indonesia is insufficient to fulfill the total need for clean water, especially during the dry season. One of the alternative sources of clean water is rainwater. This study aims to understand the characteristics of rainwater in Indonesia as well as the effect of the variations of type, arrangement, and thickness of the simple filter media on the rainwater in Indonesia. A literature study from several studies is conducted regarding the use of rainwater as clean water with filters made from simple media to improve clean water by utilizing gravity filtration technology. The key descriptors used in this review include “rainwater filtration”, “filtration”, “rainwater harvesting” and “media filtration”. The quality standard used in this study is based on the Ministry of Health Regulation No.416/Menkes/Per/IV/1990. Based on the literature, simple filtration technology can significantly reduce some parameters value where the value of efficiency is more than 50% for parameter turbidity, TDS, Pb, arsenic, total coliform, hardness and nitrate. However, it has not been able to reduce the parameter of sulfate, nitrite, chloride, magnesium significantly. The review shows that the filter medium that is effective and easily accessible are gravel, zeolite, activated carbon, sand, cotton, sponges with a total media thickness of 20 cm, 70 cm, 80 cm, 100 cm, and 105 cm and the time required to perform the filtration is about 10-15 minutes.