Low-Cost Sustainable Technologies for the Production of Clean Drinking Water—A Review

Abstract

Water has always been an important and life-sustaining drink to humans and is essential to the survival of all known organisms. Over large parts of the world, humans have inadequate access to drinking water and use water contaminated with disease vectors, pathogens or unacceptable levels of toxins or suspended solids. Drinking such water or using it in food preparation leads to widespread, acute and chronic illnesses and is a major cause of death and misery in many countries. The UN estimates that over 2.0 billion people have limited access to safe water and nearly 800 million people lack even the most basic supply of clean water. The main issue is the affordability of water purifying systems. Many people rely on boiling water or bottled water, which can be expensive. Therefore, technologies that are cost effective, sustainable, ease of operation/maintenance and the treatment processes with locally available materials are required. In this article, some unique low-cost sustainable technologies available/or in-use, i . e . natural filtration, riverbank filtration, biosand filtration, membrane filtration, solar water disinfection technique, biologically degradable materials such as moringa powder, scallop powder treatment, and biosand pitcher treatments have been discussed.