Low-cost off-the shelf water filtration product?
Can anyone suggest a low-cost off-the shelf water filtration product? The communities which the water supply is to be installed are very small so it may make sense to install purification/filtration within households rather than for the community as a whole. The supply is relatively clean but may contain some particulates and bacteria.
Past experience here has been with larger-scale concrete installations which use sand-filtration. The budget for these sites is particularly low and time-scale is also short. Any suggestions for good easy-to-install devices would be appreciated!
3 Answers
There is a UK product called the Aquafilter used for fairly small scale projects (about 60 litre/hour) originally developed for disaster releif but also used as permanent supplies. The web site www.grifaid.org has details, they dont quote a cost per unit but probably a few hundred UK pounds per unit, a working life of 6 years is quoted. The product is often distributed by charities as part of an aid package for disaster releif.
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I suggest you compare Grifaid with Lifesaver https://www.iconlifesaver.eu/ Both are sold primarily for disaster relief and other water emergencies. Unless you want at least a pallet, Lifesaver seems like the only option, because units (750 ml bottle, 5 l cube or 18.5 l jerry can) can be bought individually from the website as well as by pallet, so presumably intermediate numbers can be negotiated.
I compared the smallest (hence least economical) Lifesaver bottle with water from my local supermarket. About half of its cost is one-off, the rest is replaceable every 4000 litres, coming out at £0.04 per litre initially, and £0.02 ongoing. The cheapest supermarket bottle was 2 litre at £0.225 per litre. This makes filtered rainwater seem attractive :-)
Grifaid quote £0.0006 per litre, but that's based on a best use scenario and the bulk price per pallet of 216 ...
Akvopedia has some very good information pages on WASH resources: https://akvopedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
The water portal lists different methods of water filtration including centralised/household treatment and storage: https://akvopedia.org/wiki/Water_Portal
Not sure if this is along the lines you are thinking of, but no harm in trying: https://www.solvatten.se/
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The process seems to obtain its energy by solar heating of its black container. No sun, no safe water. Probably not for Malaysia?
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