New water filtration system may help rural India

A new low-maintenance water filtration system has been developed at the University of British Columbia aimed at remote communities in Canada and India with scarce access to potable water.

The technology, which combines microbes and gravity, was developed by Professor Pierre Berube, of the university’s engineering department.

“The technology was developed specifically for use in small and remote communities,” Berube told HT.

Its “backbone” is “ultra-filtration membranes” for water treatment, which is a very fine screen that removes not just particulate matter but also large molecules, like disinfectants or herbicides and pesticides.

It’s also “very effective in removing contaminants from water such as microbial pathogens like protozoa and viruses and bacteria.”

Working in concert with a community of bacteria, a second line of defence, breaking down anything that is biodegradable, it offers 99.9% efficacy in removing contaminants in the water.

But the real benefit comes in the manner in which the system is operated.

It is particularly useful for small communities.

Berube explained: “What happens over time is those contaminants accumulate at the membrane surface and you need to remove them. And it’s the removal of the contaminants and not the treatment of the water, that’s complex. So to remove the contaminants you commonly use pumps and chemicals and blowers.”

“What we’ve developed is the use of that same membrane technology without any of that complexity. What we use is simply gravity to reverse flow and to induce turbulence which is very effective at cleaning the mem brane and we use a microbia community to eat away at the contaminants that can’t be removed by that turbulence,” Berube said.

His process also removes the requirement for experienced personnel to work the mechani cal aspect of maintaining it.