Will this new approach offer safe drinking water to poor communities?

The problem of access to safe drinking water for millions of people across the world has been an issue of great concern, which perhaps explains why one of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals MDGs is to half the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015. UN statistics […]

The problem of access to safe drinking water for millions of people across the world has been an issue of great concern, which perhaps explains why one of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals MDGs is to half the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015.

UN statistics shows that 884 million people worldwide still rely on unimproved water sources for their drinking and other domestic uses. 84 per cent of these, that is 746 million people are noted to live in rural areas.

In Nigeria, access to improved sources of drinking water is said to be generally low.

A report released mid last year by the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) of the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, indicated that 53 percent of households in Nigeria are without adequate clean water.

Over the years, many technology have been evolved to facilitate access  to  clean water , yet safe drinking water  is still beyond the reach of over  half of the population in Nigeria even as  some diseases transmitted through contaminated drinking water,   especially cholera have continued to ravage many Nigerian communities.

But speaking with Sunday Trust in Sokoto, Engineer S. Osuoha, President, Clean Water Africa Development Initiative, said the Naiade water purification system which was designed for larger communities   was high yield and eased the supply of drinking water for a greater number of people.

He noted that several tests by various state controlled water quality institutes world- wide have confirmed the performance of the unit.

Test results are said to vary “from 95 − 100% ‘kill rate’ (destruction) of bacteria, protozoa and viruses”.

It is also noted that the unit which avoids the use of chemicals, may handle up to 2,000 liters per day, thus satisfying the daily needs of up to 400 people.

“As soon as the container is filled and the UV lamp has been started, the unit will be able to supply about 5 litres per minute,” he said.

Engineer Osuoha explained that as the device was installed next to the point of water supply, the cost of unit was spread over the whole community.

He revealed that all materials and the applied technology were based on the intensive use in remote and tropical areas.

Osuoha also pointed out that Naiade succeeded in creating a water purification unit, which could be installed, operated and maintained by people with no technical education or background just as he said all spare parts could be easily purchased, since the backup service was at a geographical local level, adding that the unit does not use any moving parts.

The whole water treatment is said to be done with reusable materials, “the filter bag cleans the water mechanically up to 10 micron nominal. After clogging, they can be easily removed, washed and replaced,” he said.

On the energy used by the device, he explained that it was a combination of solar powered electronics, UV light water treatment and battery technology.

This water purification unit, he noted, was, “independent from fossil fuel or electrical network. It is an alternative to liquid chlorine disinfection and environmental friendly.”

He said that Naiade projects have been realized in Afghanistan, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Indonesia, China, Brazil, Surinam, Mexico, Colombia, Morocco, Senegal, Sudan, Mozambique Madagascar, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Tanzania, Cameroon Benin, Mali, Egypt, South Africa and Kenya.

Indeed many are waiting to see how much impact this new approach will have in ensuring that the much sought-for clean water is obtained especially by the poor communities who are mostly deprived of it.

They also hope to see how it will work to prevent and eradicate cholera and other water-borne diseases.