Household water treatment using ceramic filter from natural clay and sugarcane bagasse for potable use in rural areas

Abstract

Nigeria did not meet the millennium development goal (MDG) target of 75% coverage of safe drinking water in 2015. This research is  aimed at evaluating the suitability of ceramic water filter made from natural clay and sugarcane bagasse to remove turbidity and  pathogens from surface water for household drinking purpose. Preliminary filters were constructed from different proportions of clay to  sugarcane bagasse and 90% clay –10% sugarcane bagasse gave a good flowrate of 2.5 L/hr. Four filters were constructed and were  labeled Filters A, B, C and D based on different methods of silver nitrate application. Raw water was collected at Riminguza Dam and100  filtration runs were conducted in all the four filters. pH, turbidity and total coliform (TC) count were tested before and after the 1^st, 5^th,  10^th, 20^th, 50^th and 100thfiltration runs. The raw water result on pH, turbidity and TC countwas6.7, 46.3 NTU and 70 count/100 ml  respectively. The result of 100 filtration runs on the four filters on pH ranged from 7.07 to 7.17, turbidity ranged from 2.69 to 3.76 NTU and  the TC count ranged from 2 to 22 count/100ml.Filter C and D were found to be more effective in terms of coliform removal. The  filtered water was found to conform to the WHO and Nigerian standards for safe drinking water quality.