People in rural developing areas often depend on point-of-use water treatment for safe drinking water. A very popular and efficient technology for this is the use of ceramic filters, as promoted by the non-governmental organization Potters for Peace. These filters are already used in many countries worldwide, including Indonesia, where they are manufactured in Bandung, Java by Pelita Indonesia. The filters are made of local clay and combustible material, and coated with silver after firing. However, data available on them are very scarce. The structure, composition, and physico-chemical and microbiological performance of the filter were examined. Pore sizes mostly ranged from 1 to 40 µm and flow rate was about 1.3 L/h. Silver, arsenic and manganese were leaching from the filter in remarkable concentrations. While values for silver were about 0.01–0.02 mg/L, manganese was washed out after a few liters and leaching of arsenic fell below 0.02 mg/L after filtering some liters. With a log reduction of 3–5, efficiency in bacteria reduction was satisfactory in contrast to virus removal which was not sufficient according to the World Health Organization guidelines, with a log reduction below 1.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.