A critical review of water purification technology appropriate for developing countries: Northern Ghana as a case study

Abstract

A wide range of technologies are commercially available for water purification. However, not all of these technologies are suitable for use in rural, underdeveloped regions. Here, I present a systematic method for selecting the most appropriate technology for a particular community, using rural Ghana as a case study. In Ghana, over half of the population lives in rural areas, and two-thirds of these residents lack access to safe drinking water. Ghana has made significant strides using innovative water treatment techniques; however, there are still many hurdles. Simple and inexpensive, on-site water filtration technologies are a promising method for removing protozoans and other micro-organisms that pose significant health risks in underdeveloped, rural areas. In this review, several of these commercially available on-site water filtration technologies are assessed based on the following factors: effectiveness, cost, energy consumption, environmental impacts, and waste generated. This analysis suggests that for rural communities in Ghana, LifeStraw^® and ceramic clay pots are the most appropriate technologies. Implementation of these technologies poses potential benefits in terms of cost effectiveness and economic growth. Although this paper focuses on northern Ghana as a case study, the methodology presented here can be readily extended to specific scenarios in other developing countries.

Keywords:

• Filtration
• Ghana
• Public health
• Drinking water
• Waterborne-diseases

Acknowledgments

I acknowledge support for this study by the US State Department Emerging Leaders’ Environment and Extraction Program. I express my appreciation to Dr Stenstrom for his assistance.

Notes

Presented at the 5th IWA-ASPIRE Conference, 8–12 September 2013, Daejeon, Korea