Efficiency of Silver Impregnated Porous Pot (SIPP) Filters for Production of Clean Potable Water

Oranso Mahlangu, Bhekie Mamba and Maggie Momba
Additional contact information
Oranso Mahlangu: Department of Chemical Technology, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 17011, Doornfontein 2028, South Africa
Bhekie Mamba: Department of Chemical Technology, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 17011, Doornfontein 2028, South Africa
Maggie Momba: Department of Environmental, Water and Earth Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, 175 Nelson Mandela Drive, Pretoria 0002, South Africa

IJERPH, 2012, vol. 9, issue 9, 1-16

Abstract: The Silver Impregnated Porous Pot (SIPP) filter is a product of the Tshwane University of Technology manufactured for the production of safe drinking water at a household (home) level. Two SIPP devices were assessed for the reduction efficiency of chemical contaminants such as calcium, magnesium, iron, arsenic, fluorides and total organic carbon (TOC) as well as microbial contaminants from environmental samples. Turbidity change after filtration, together with correlation between chlorophyll a in the feed water and SIPP’s flow rates were also evaluated in order to give comprehensive guidelines on the quality of intake water that could be filtered through the filter without causing a significant decrease in flow rate. The SIPP filters removed contaminants from environmental water samples as follows: 70% to 92% iron, 36% to 68% calcium, 42% to 82% arsenic, 39% to 98% magnesium, 39% to 95% fluorides, 12% to 35% TOC and 45% to 82% turbidity. The SIPP filters had initial flow rates of 1 L/h to 4 L/h but the flow rates dropped to 0.5 L/h with an increase in cumulative volume of intake water as the filter was used. Turbidity and chemical contaminant reduction rates decreased with accumulating volume of intake water but the filter removed Ca, Fe and Mg to levels that comply with the South African National Standards (SANS 241) and the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline values. However, the SIPP filters cannot produce enough water to satisfy the daily drinking water requirement of a typical household (25 L/p·d). Chlorophyll a was associated with a decrease in the flow rate through the SIPP filters.

Keywords: silver impregnated porous pot filter; chlorophyll a; total organic carbon; flow rate; turbidity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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