Performance of water filters towards the removal of selected pollutants in Arusha, Tanzania.

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a study carried out to investigate the efficiency of selected common water filters in the removal of Escherichiacoli, organic matter and fluoride. Additionally, the Total Suspended Solids, Turbidity andcolour were also considered for assessing the performance of the filters in ensuring safe water provision. The results showedthat various filters performed differently at particular retention times. Removal of Escherichia coli, was found to be 100%, 75%, 96%, 96.5, 98.5%forbio-sand, slow sand, ceramic, bone char and membrane purifier respectively. Organic matter removal was found to be 47%, 43%, 53%, 43.4% for bio-sand, slow sand, ceramic and membrane purifier respectively, while, fluoride removal was found to be 95.5% for bone char filter. Furthermore, filters were also assessed in terms of media availability, buying costs, operation, benefits/ effectiveness towards major pollutants, and drawbacks.

The study concluded that filters currently present in the market especially in Arusha are effective towards specific pollutants. To remove multiple pollutants, an integrated filter would be needed for optimized performance.

Key words: water filters, water purification, E. coli, organic matter, fluoride