Solar water disinfection in large-volume containers: from the laboratory to the field. A case study in Tigray, Ethiopia
Abstract The lack of safe drinking water affects communities in low-to-medium-income countries most. This barrier can be overcome by using sustainable point-of-use water treatments. Solar energy has been used to disinfect water for decades, and several efforts have been made to optimise the standard...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23709-5 |
| _version_ | 1817970597406179328 |
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| author | Ángela García-Gil Rafael A. García-Muñoz Azahara Martínez-García Maria Inmaculada Polo-López Araya Gebreyesus Wasihun Mekonen Teferi Tsehaye Asmelash Ronan Conroy Kevin G. McGuigan Javier Marugán |
| author_facet | Ángela García-Gil Rafael A. García-Muñoz Azahara Martínez-García Maria Inmaculada Polo-López Araya Gebreyesus Wasihun Mekonen Teferi Tsehaye Asmelash Ronan Conroy Kevin G. McGuigan Javier Marugán |
| author_sort | Ángela García-Gil |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The lack of safe drinking water affects communities in low-to-medium-income countries most. This barrier can be overcome by using sustainable point-of-use water treatments. Solar energy has been used to disinfect water for decades, and several efforts have been made to optimise the standard procedure of solar water disinfection (SODIS process). However, the Health Impact Assessment of implementing advanced technologies in the field is also a critical step in evaluating the success of the optimisation. This work reports a sustainable scaling-up of SODIS from standard 2 L bottles to 25 L transparent jerrycans (TJC) and a 12-month field implementation in four sites of Tigray in Ethiopia, where 80.5% of the population lives without reliable access to safe drinking water and whose initial baseline average rate of diarrhoeal disease in children under 5 years was 13.5%. The UVA dose required for 3-log reduction of E. coli was always lower than the minimum UVA daily dose received in Tigray (9411 ± 55 Wh/m2). Results confirmed a similar decrease in cases of diarrhoea in children in the implementation (25 L PET TJC) and control (2 L PET bottles) groups, supporting the feasibility of increasing the volume of the SODIS water containers to produce safer drinking water with a sustainable and user-friendly process. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T20:36:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-74baee2161944c02b1251f7eb145adce |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T20:36:04Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-74baee2161944c02b1251f7eb145adce2022-12-22T02:31:02ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222022-11-011211910.1038/s41598-022-23709-5Solar water disinfection in large-volume containers: from the laboratory to the field. A case study in Tigray, EthiopiaÁngela García-Gil0Rafael A. García-Muñoz1Azahara Martínez-García2Maria Inmaculada Polo-López3Araya Gebreyesus Wasihun4Mekonen Teferi5Tsehaye Asmelash6Ronan Conroy7Kevin G. McGuigan8Javier Marugán9Department of Chemical and Environmental Technology (ESCET), Universidad Rey Juan CarlosDepartment of Chemical and Environmental Technology (ESCET), Universidad Rey Juan CarlosPlataforma Solar de Almería-CIEMATPlataforma Solar de Almería-CIEMATDepartment of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle UniversityDepartment of Biology, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Mekelle UniversityDepartment of Medical Microbiology, College of Health Sciences, Aksum UniversityRoyal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), Data Science CentreDepartment of Physiology and Medical Physics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI)Department of Chemical and Environmental Technology (ESCET), Universidad Rey Juan CarlosAbstract The lack of safe drinking water affects communities in low-to-medium-income countries most. This barrier can be overcome by using sustainable point-of-use water treatments. Solar energy has been used to disinfect water for decades, and several efforts have been made to optimise the standard procedure of solar water disinfection (SODIS process). However, the Health Impact Assessment of implementing advanced technologies in the field is also a critical step in evaluating the success of the optimisation. This work reports a sustainable scaling-up of SODIS from standard 2 L bottles to 25 L transparent jerrycans (TJC) and a 12-month field implementation in four sites of Tigray in Ethiopia, where 80.5% of the population lives without reliable access to safe drinking water and whose initial baseline average rate of diarrhoeal disease in children under 5 years was 13.5%. The UVA dose required for 3-log reduction of E. coli was always lower than the minimum UVA daily dose received in Tigray (9411 ± 55 Wh/m2). Results confirmed a similar decrease in cases of diarrhoea in children in the implementation (25 L PET TJC) and control (2 L PET bottles) groups, supporting the feasibility of increasing the volume of the SODIS water containers to produce safer drinking water with a sustainable and user-friendly process.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23709-5 |
| spellingShingle | Ángela García-Gil Rafael A. García-Muñoz Azahara Martínez-García Maria Inmaculada Polo-López Araya Gebreyesus Wasihun Mekonen Teferi Tsehaye Asmelash Ronan Conroy Kevin G. McGuigan Javier Marugán Solar water disinfection in large-volume containers: from the laboratory to the field. A case study in Tigray, Ethiopia Scientific Reports |
| title | Solar water disinfection in large-volume containers: from the laboratory to the field. A case study in Tigray, Ethiopia |
| title_full | Solar water disinfection in large-volume containers: from the laboratory to the field. A case study in Tigray, Ethiopia |
| title_fullStr | Solar water disinfection in large-volume containers: from the laboratory to the field. A case study in Tigray, Ethiopia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Solar water disinfection in large-volume containers: from the laboratory to the field. A case study in Tigray, Ethiopia |
| title_short | Solar water disinfection in large-volume containers: from the laboratory to the field. A case study in Tigray, Ethiopia |
| title_sort | solar water disinfection in large volume containers from the laboratory to the field a case study in tigray ethiopia |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23709-5 |
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