Background:

Simple and cost effective method of treating drinking water for removing bacterial contamination has been developed by the principal Investigator and the concept needs to be evaluated and field tested for varying field conditions. Water quality varies from source to source and place to place. The bacterial contamination of drinking water is one of the major concerns for both rural and urban population leading to health issues.

Objective:

Council in collaboration with Indian Institute of Science will develop a protocol for treating drinking water by using silver metal. The established methodology will also be compared with the domestic water purifiers in the market and also in other research laboratories.

1. Quantification of bacterial removal in drinking water by silver metal treatment - 6 months

2. Simple, cost effective and field tested products / methods for mass application and comparison with other methods - 18 months

3. Documentation and publicizing of the findings - 24 months (documentation will be started from the beginning of the project)

Project Completion

Council in collaboration with Indian Institute of Science conducted lab experiments to develop protocol for standardizing the methods of analysis of water in a complete aseptic condition. The established methodology using silver sheet was compared with the domestic water purifiers in the market and also in other research laboratories in the coming days.

Bacteriological analysis of water was performed by two methods namely Heterotrophic plate count method [HPC] and Multiple Tube Fermentation Technique (MTFT). As the project aim is confined to remove ecoli (a major faecal contamination indicator), HPC method was adopted for testing. MTFT helped us to identify Total coli forms and faecal coli forms. Tests were conducted for various samples. To facilitate testing of more water samples, a bacteriological incubator was procured in the project and used in the laboratory.

A new container with coaxial annular space to hold small quantity of water for large surface area of silver sheet was designed and fabricated. Raw water was allowed to flow through the annular space at the rate of around one liter per hour. Water quality of the treated water was continuously monitored.

Project completion report was submitted along with the fund utilization certificate to Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and a presentation was made to the review committee during August 2013.

DST has acknowledged the successful completion of the project.

Click on this link to view detailed project report