Water system will help poor
Student creates technique to clean dirty river water
Busisiwe Mashiane has come up with a new and cheaper way rural communities can purify their natural water using sand and the sun.
The 22-year-old chemical engineering student from Wits University was motivated by her own rural background in the village of Bundu in Mpumalanga, where clean water is hard to come by.
Mashiane has developed a unique way to clean water collected from polluted rivers.
“Once I’ve collected rain water or water from a river, I pour the water into what is called the feed tank. A pipe is connected to the tank and leads the water into a filter that is filled with different types of sand. The water will flow into a transparent sterilisation container where the sun will kill off the leftover harmful pathogens,” Mashiane told Sowetan.
“Over time, a biological film called the schmutzdecke will form over the sand and will prevent any of the harmful pathogens and harmful bacteria from passing through the sand. This layer takes about three to four months to develop.”
Mashiane has put up one of her filter systems in her home in Mpumalanga that the family is using. “The system has not yet been through the SANS (South African National Standards) 241 tests. So they do not drink it yet but they do use it for other things.”
Mashiane said her family was grateful because they had to buy borehole water from their neighbours. She hopes that by the end of the year the system will pass the necessary tests for it to be safe to drink.
Mashiane’s research supervisor, Professor Craig Sheridan, said: “She is doing a wonderful job and it is a privilege to supervise someone like her.”