science program

IPWR Fellow: Daniel Oerther, Ph.D., PE , BCEE

Location: University of Cincinnati
Amount: $50,000 for two years
Project: Health Implications of Point of Use Water Treatment in India

Annually, more than one million children die from preventable waterborne diarrheal disease. Although centralized water collection, treatment, and distribution technologies are well characterized in developed countries, there exists a barrier to their adoption in emerging economies. Often, this barrier is believed to be the cost of treatment; but based upon personal observations during a Fulbright visit to India from Jan-June 06, the Principal Investigator HYPOTHESIZES that the barrier for adoption for the one billion people in India is the preference to pay for services on an individual basis. Indian society’s tendency toward ‘self-reliance’ offers major resistance to adoption of existing ‘western’ technology for providing safe water. The OBJECTIVE of this project is to determine cost effective, reliable technologies for sustainable potable water production for India (e.g., to develop an India-appropriate solution; rather than to force an adoption of ‘western’ technology). Thus, scalable (e.g., from one to fifteen connection) Point of Use (POU) technologies delivering high quality drinking water will be the focus of this project. The APPROACH will include a survey of: (1) drinking water sources and storage; (2) existing POUs for treatment; (3) health outcomes; and (4) mode of environmental health education for Indians in urban, suburban, and rural areas around Bangalore. Predominant technologies identified in the survey will be validated in laboratory-scale studies for removal of fluoride, arsenic, and pathogens. The EXPECTED RESULTS include identification and validation of appropriate scalable POUs to deliver safe drinking water for India that can be used in small rural villages as well as urban high rise condominiums.