Indigenous plant based coagulants/disinfectants and sand filter media for surface water treatment in Bamenda, Cameroon

Abstract

An Evaluation of plant- based coagulants and disinfectant-sand filter  medium for surface water treatment in Bamenda, Cameroon using  bacterial analyses and turbidity were carried out. 100L of very turbid surface water (Turbidity approx. 500NTU) was pretreated with 100 seeds of Moringa oleifera, and further filtered through a sand filter drum (120 L carrying capacity) made of fine, coarse sand, charcoal and gravel. The mean total heterotrophic bacterial counts, Escherichia coli, coliform, pseudomonas and yeast counts, as well as turbidity of untreated surface water significantly reduced by 85 to 95%. The results suggested that the mean values of the same parameters for sand filtered pond water alone was significantly lower than the corresponding mean values obtained for plant coagulant treated surface water. The findings from this study  demonstrates strongly that a biocoagulant sand filter media (plant based coagulant-sand filter drum) could be applied to treat contaminated surface water, rendering it free from solids and pathogens.

Key words: Plant, coagulants, indigenous, surface, water, treatment, microbes, Cameroon.