Open AccessDEVELOPMENT OF A PORTABLE HOUSEHOLD WATER DEVICE FOR IMPROVING DRINKING WATER QUALITY IN NIGERIA
Author(s) -
Julius Akinbomi,
I.I. Odika
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
engineering and techology research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 0794-2834
DOI - 10.47545/etrj.2020.5.2.065
Subject(s) - tap water , water quality , environmental science , barium chloride , backwashing , environmental engineering , water treatment , aeration , waste management , chemistry , engineering , mechanical engineering , ecology , organic chemistry , inlet , biology
Pipe borne water supplied to Nigerian households may not always meet the accepted drinking water quality standards due to possible water pipe damage. The objective of this study was, therefore, to develop a portable water filter device for improving household drinking water quality. Five litres of representative tap water samples collected from Lagos State University Staff quarters were passed through the developed device. The experimental variables investigated for data acquisition were aeration period of untreated tap water; device backwashing operation cycles and retention times of tap water in the filter device. The results of the analyses of water samples for the various values of the experimental variables showed that the range values of water parameters between the treated and untreated tap water samples were 0.04-0.05, 0.02-0.03, 0.04-0.12, 0.3-0.4, 125-137, 10-20, 3-10 mg/L for barium, chromium, iron, pH, Total Dissolved Solids, hardness and chloride, respectively. Although the developed device helped in improving the quality of the tap water; the p-values for the different experimental variables were greater than α-level of 0.05 indicating the non-significance of using the developed water device. Consequently, future study will consider other experimental variables that will justify the significance of using the developed device.