Point-of-Use technology for clean water treatment in disaster areas: Effectiveness of LDH plate in eliminating pathogenic bacteria

¹ Environmental Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Andalas, Padang, 25163 West Sumatra, Indonesia
² Environmental Engineering Department, Faculty of Science and Technology, Jambi University, Muaro Jambi, 36361 Jambi, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: taufiqihsan@eng.unand.ac.id

Abstract

This study tackles the clean water crisis in West Sumatra, often exacerbated by natural disasters such as flash floods and landslides, by proposing an innovative point-of-use water treatment method. The method employs layered double hydroxide (LDH) synthesized on aluminum plates, created by soaking these plates in a solution of seawater and magnesium hydroxide. The X-ray diffraction analyses proved the formation of LDH. Experiments demonstrated that this method is suitable for water contaminated with E. coli. For the LDH plates, this removal rate of E. coli reached 100% with continuous stirring and 91% with occasional stirring within 24 hours. Stirring did enhance contact between LDH and water, thus improving the rate of removal of the bacterium. The process is low-cost and simple, with all materials easily available, so this offers a very reproducible solution to deliver clean water in disaster zones. Further studies shall be conducted for its performance against different bacterial strains and in more complex water matrices. This work substantially expands current knowledge of POU/HWT technologies and delivers a real-life solution for providing clean water in disaster situations.