Treatment of drinking water for rural households using Moringa seed and solar disinfection

Abstract

Abstract Rural populations in Tanzania use unsafe drinking water from unimproved water sources which are inadequately treated using plant seed powder. The effectiveness of defatted crude seed extract (dCSE) of Moringa oleifera along with water filtration and solar disinfection (SODIS) for rural household water treatment was investigated. The performance of dCSE in turbidity and bacteria reduction was evaluated in 20 L buckets using river water with varied turbidities. Coagulation–flocculation processes were conducted using different dosages of 5% (Weight/Volume) dCSE. Optimum dosage for maximum turbid removal was established after 2–6 h of settling time. Optimum dosages of dCSE were 20, 30 and 80 mL/20 L for water with a turbidity of 150, 450 and 1,000 NTU with turbidity removal efficiencies of 98, 99 and 99%, respectively. The filtration process was able to remove about 66% of suspended solids from pretreated water by dCSE after coagulation/flocculation/sedimentation. SODIS of pretreated water in black painted and unpainted bottles removed 99 and 97.6%; 99.9 and 98.6% of total and fecal coliforms after 6 h of sunlight exposure, respectively. The pH and color of treated water were within Tanzania Standards. This study recommends dCSE, filtration and SODIS for use at household level for water treatment and storage using pots.