Why a non-chemical pathway to water treatment is an exciting prospect in developing countries.
Part I: Water Quality Criteria
Ever used an alum or water guard to treat water before use? This is for you! To thrive in a developing country, you will admit you need a DIY (do-it-yourself) mindset. It is the same reason decentralized technologies are thriving as the government cannot be trusted to provide basic amenities like power, water, basic healthcare etc. and do little to control the population which puts a lot of strain on scarce or limited available resources. I have always been concerned by the fact that our population growth rate in Nigeria and most developing countries have outpaced our investment in critical infrastructure.
The DIY mentality has permeated our society in such a way that professionals are now suspect. Folks would gladly trust a drug peddler ahead of a trained medical practitioner. While in graduate school, I was excited to find out that prior to the establishment of the FDA in most developed countries, drug peddling common in our society today was also rampant in these countries. It gave me hope that we can get there. So in the next paragraphs, I am going to briefly discuss the technical problems surrounding a chemical approach to drinking water treatment. So that the next time you see someone selling some water guards of some sorts, you can know what to look out for or questions to ask. In line with our objectives, we shall keep our language non-technical so that every reader can be carried along.
Summarily, water quality criteria can be classed into the following three categories:
· Chemical Quality
· Biological Quality
· Organoleptic Quality
Chemical Quality
It is essential that drinking water is free from chemical contamination. Most times water that is free from chemical contamination is tasteless and odourless. However, chemical-free does not mean that the water does not have chemicals but that their concentration is not more than the stipulated WHO standards. Chemical contaminants can be anthropogenic (man-made) or geogenic (natural).
Because in Nigeria most of our drinking water comes from groundwater abstraction (bore-holes), we have little concern for anthropogenic contaminants except where the borehole depths are suspect or areas with high water tables like the Niger Delta. This means we can focus more on geogenic contaminants. Typical geogenic contaminants are iron oxides if you live on the Lagos Island or the Niger Delta Basins or Sodium Chloride if you live in Ebonyi State.
Biological Quality
Now the second criteria ensure that water is biologically free. If you recall, sometime in Nigeria, Guinea worm was a huge concern. However, given the high rate of water-borne diseases like cholera, dysentery or typhoid, we have every reason to be concerned about biological water quality in Nigeria. Biological contaminants can be nuanced because the diseases mentioned above are stem from pathogens (disease-causing agents) present in consuming contaminated food or water but originate mainly from poor sanitation and bad habits like eating with unwashed hands.
Organoleptic Quality
The last criteria organoleptic quality has to do with water being colourless and odourless. In other words, the things you can relate to your five senses. I will like to make a point here by saying that the fact that water is colourless and odourless does not mean it is fit for drinking and vice versa. For example, I recently told a friend that Lekki water with its high iron oxide content is very much okay for drinking or cooking according to WHO Standards but she would have none of it. This means that to the layman, the most important criteria is that the water is colourless and odourless.
So now that we have put the quality guidelines behind us, in our next post we shall take on how these standards are achieved and go on to take on our topic. Thank you for your attention.
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