The Prototype Development of Cost-Effective Water Purification System for Remote Areas and Its Efficiency Against Heavy Metals

Arsenic contamination of groundwater has become a serious health issue, globally. The presence of arsenic has been reported from many regions including southeast Asia, specifically the problem which has risen in developing countries and Pakistan is no exception. Since now, no cost-effective treatment of arsenic (As)-contaminated water has been advised or practiced in various regions of Punjab, Pakistan. Thus, the present paper describes the development of cost-effective water purification system which may be used in remote or desert areas against the arsenic pollution of groundwater and evaluates its efficacy by estimating the level of heavy metals like arsenic, lead, chromium and cobalt before and after treatment. The newly developed prototype uses the crude technique of gravity flow system for the purification of water. We found that the results for the heavy metals are significantly different before and after treatment (p < 0.05). Thus, we conclude that this new water treatment and purification system is effective and can be used in the areas which are reported to have bad water quality and in remote areas where no purification system is used due to the low per capita income. This will help us to battle many waterborne diseases which otherwise extensively affect the population.