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Field Testing of a Small Water Purification System for Non-PRASA Rural Communities
Citation:
Concepcion, D., J. Falcon, S. Hwang, R. Sinha, AND CHRISTOPHER IMPELLITTERI. Field Testing of a Small Water Purification System for Non-PRASA Rural Communities. In Proceedings, World Environmental & Water Resources Congress 2010, Challenges of Change, Providence, RI, May 16 - 20, 2010. Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of ASCE, Reston, VA, 559, (2010).
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
Small, rural communities typically do not have adequate water purification systems to sustain their life quality and residents are exposed to pathogens present in drinking water. In Puerto Rico (PR), approximately 4% of the population does not have access to drinking water provided by the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA). These communities rely on their own water purification systems. These systems are called the Non-PRASA Systems and range from having no treatment to filtration treatment followed by disinfection. There are about 240 Non-PRASA Systems in PR. An experimental drum slow sand filtration (SSF) and chlorination system has been installed in a PR rural community where gravity and solar power are the only options to run the system. The SSF system was designed and initially tested at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Test & Evaluation (T&E) Facility in Cincinnati, OH. Filtration consists of 3 drums, each packed with 3 different grades of sand. Each drum filtration unit can be backwashed. Chlorination is done with prechlorination and/or postchlorination. Engineering operating parameters such as flow rates, filtration time, and biochemical characteristics such as turbidity, total and free residual chlorine concentrations, and indicator microorganisms have been tested. These systems will be further evaluated in conjunction with a coagulation drum in front of the SSF for high-turbidity water purification. Once testing is completed, the systems will be deployed to rural communities needing reliable but low-cost water purification systems for protection from water-borne diseases.
