Assessing the Potentials of Locally Fabricated Activated Carbon Filter (ACF) in Reducing Bacterial Contamination Levels of Borehole Water

Abstract

Access to adequate safe drinking water is an important necessity for every community but many developing regions of the world still lack a steady supply of potable water. The study was aimed at assessing the potentials of locally fabricated activated carbon filter (ACF) in reducing bacterial contamination levels of borehole water. A local filter was fabricated using activated carbon and other materials like sterile plastic bottle, cotton wool, sterile fabric cloth (pore size 0f 0.4µm) and sterilize foam. A total of fifteen samples of borehole water were analyzed for total bacteria count and total coliform count by plate count and most probable number technique respectively. The result obtained revealed that all the boreholes were contaminated with high total bacteria count which decreased by 3-65% after installing the locally designed carbon. The coliform count showed high reduction rate in that more than 50% of the coliforms were filtered. Comparatively, all the water samples (pre and post-filtration) exceeded the standard limit of the most probable number (MPN) per 100 mL set for untreated drinking water by the World Health Organization. The result of this study thus highlighted that most borehole water sources are unfit microbiologically for drinking, but could be improved after application of filters used in this research because the filters significantly reduced the contamination level.