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Evaluation of an Innovative Sand Filter for Small System Drinking Water Treatment
Citation:
Impellitteri, C., C. Patterson, N. Muhammad, R. Sinha, AND F. Stottlemyer. Evaluation of an Innovative Sand Filter for Small System Drinking Water Treatment. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-13/342, 2014.
Impact/Purpose:
Puerto Rico has 247 public water systems outside of Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) control with 147 of these systems serving between 100 and 500 people. Many of these systems use source waters that are contaminated by human and animal wastes. Yet, only 186 of the 247 systems use filtration technologies for removal of chlorine resistant pathogens. There is a very clear need for low cost sand filtration technologies that can provide safe water and improve the health of individuals living in communities.
Description:
Results of evaluation of an innovative sand filter that uses the concepts of both slow and rapid sand filtration are presented in this article. The system uses a low-cost “Drum Sand Filter” (DSF) that consists of a 55-gallon drum filled with layers of sand of varying size. A low-cost “Drum Flocculator” (DF) and tablet chlorination are incorporated before and after the DSF, respectively, to enhance the filter performance and to provide a final barrier against microbial contamination. The results of the evaluation demonstrated that the DSF with the DF and tablet chlorination is very effective in removing turbidity and the selected microbiological contaminants including Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Total and Fecal Coliform and Polystyrene Latex (PSL) beads, a surrogate for Cryptosporidium. The DF/DSF system evaluated in this work is meant to provide a low-cost system in order to provide basic water treatment for locations where such treatment is not available.