Evaluation of adaptive low cost solar water pasteurization device for providing safe potable water in rural households

Abstract

Abstract This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a simplified, low cost, pasteurization device in inactivating the diarrheal pathogens present in pond/lake/river water in order to provide safe potable water to people living in the rural areas of low resource countries. In this process, water in polyethylene bags was exposed to sunshine, where UV radiation emissions and heat absorption from the sunshine occurs simultaneously, and maintaining the heating at <60 °C, and minimum UV radiation emissions of 996.2 W/m2 for approximately 30 minutes was found enough to inactivate diarrheal pathogens in water. The synergistic effect of heat, UV radiation emission and holding time causes the destruction of diarrheal pathogens. However, the performance of the device depends on the thickness of the insulation and the air gap between polyethylene bags. Regardless of sample sources, the highest population reduction of Escherichia coli observed in the bacterial challenge study was 6.8 ± 0.4 log CFU/ml. The physicochemical properties were found acceptable compared with USEPA potable water quality except turbidity, which is acceptable according to the BDS standard, and the shelf-life study results demonstrated that 6 months' storage of pasteurization device-treated water at room temperature is possible without compromising water quality. Therefore, this simplified pasteurization device could be useful in potable water-scarce areas of the world.