Filtration of Bacteria for Water Purification

In many places around the world, more than one billion people still do not have access to clean and safe drinking water.  Most of these people live in rural communities so they resort to the drinking water that is available to them.  According to the World Health Organization, over three million people die each year from a water related disease.  The objective of this project was to provide safe and sanitary drinking water to underprivileged families.  We used convenient items, such as, clay, sand and sawdust to construct warter filters.  These filters were set out to dry for days then fired to create porosity and make them durable.  Colloidal silver was brushed onto the filters and passed through them until clear water was produced.  In this process, colloidal silver was used to disinfect and kill biological pathogens so that the water was safe to drink.  Many different tests, such as pH, conductivity, turbidity, ammonium ion, nitrate, chloride and total coliform, were used to determine water quality.  One of the formulations yielded filters had produced clear water that did not show signs of coliform bacteria.  This research was supported by PHS Grant R25 GM048998-13.