Abstract:
Water borne infections are the number killer of children
under five years in developing countries. The main reason is the
consumption of untreated drinking water. Here we report on the use of
ceramic water filters in reducing Escherichia coli, a surrogate for
pathogens in drinking water and can be applied in a rural household.
For microbiological analysis, the two ceramic water filters, one from
Mukondeni and the other one from Sese in Zimbabwe reduced the
high microbial load of the raw water. The result showed that the counts
as colony form units, of coliform in the purified water was zero and in
raw water was too many to count; these colonies were probably
removed by the ceramic water filter. The microbial counts in the
purified water were zero colony forming units per 100 ml and within
the SANS 241 guidelines values. The ceramic water filters from
Mukondeni and Sese were able to improve the microbial quality of the
raw water. The Sese ceramic water filter was slow and thus further
improvements are required in the composition of materials by
increasing the saw dust component and reducing the clay component.
Thus, ceramic water filters are suitable for use at household level.
