Results from household ceramic filter evaluation in northern Ghana

This paper outlines Pure Home Water’s efforts to promote household drinking water treatment and safe storage (HWTS) products to low income customers in the Northern Region of Ghana and describes the research performed to improve upon PHW’s success. Epidemiological surveys and water quality testing were conducted in January 2006 and January 2007 in order to obtain baseline data on drinking water and sanitation practices and to evaluate the effectiveness of PHW’s program. It was found that traditional communities have a great need for access to improved water supplies, and PHW is effectively reaching these households by offering ceramic filters at a segmented market price and by managing several marketing campaigns. The surveys found that users are satisfied with the product. According to the water quality tests, the filters are performing well in the field; in traditional households, for example, E. coli removal rates averaged 99.7% when tested with membrane filtration

Importance of evaluating phosphate levels in tubewells in high arsenic areas of Asia

Significant levels of naturally occurring phosphates in groundwater in some arsenic affected regions can potentially reduce removal efficiencies of some critical iron-based arsenic treatment systems that currently are among the most simple and low-cost treatment approaches. From March-December 2007, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) and LEDARS, a Bangladeshi NGO, conducted pilot testing in Bangladesh of the Kanchan Arsenic Filter. Because of the varying phosphate levels in groundwater in different districts in Bangladesh, the project also included an analysis of phosphate data from arsenic studies conducted by other organizations in high arsenic areas in Vietnam, Cambodia, West Bengal and Inner Mongolia and compared them to results from Bangladesh and Nepal.The results from the analysis indicated that the ratio of iron to phosphates in the groundwater might be a good indicator for the effectiveness of iron-based arsenic removal systems in high arsenic areas