Design and Evaluation of a Household Chlorination System for Treating Cistern Water in the US Virgin Islands

Voth-Gaeddert, Lee E.; Lemley, Mandy; Brathwaite, Kela; Schranck, Andrew; Libbey, Stephen

doi:10.1061/(asce)ee.1943-7870.0002063

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Finally, passive chlorination has been demonstrated as a viable technique to provide potable water, 31 and low-cost design options are currently being developed and tested for use in USVI. 6 These systems may cost $150−200 for the units once fully developed and operational. Therefore, given the variety of water use habits, water treatment technology costs and efficacies, and stratification of socio-economic levels in USVI, decision support tools can be an important tool to help facilitate data-driven decisions by households in accessing water treatment technologies.…”

Section: ■ Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Point-of-Entry UV Treatment for Cistern Water among Households in the US Virgin Islands

et al. 2023

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UV water treatment can be a viable option for point-of-entry applications among households utilizing contaminated private water sources, including roof-harvested rainwater. However, limited data is available on UV system effectiveness and costs. Therefore, Love City Strong, an NGO in the US Virgin Islands, piloted a UV access program which included free UV systems with prefiltration along with installation and monthly household visits for up to 12 months, including water quality testing. In addition, a pilot study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of UV systems without prefiltration. Results from the UV access program demonstrated that E. coli was not detected in 95.1% of tap or spigot samples (n = 268). Among water quality parameters, household characteristics, and premise plumbing dynamics, no factor was significantly higher among samples with detections of E. coli or total coliforms. Among all samples from the pilot study of UV systems without prefiltration, no E. coli was detected (N = 24). Finally, there was a wide range of costsfirst year and annualwhen comparing different types and configurations of UV systems. Given these data, UV systems may be a viable option for generating potable water; however, clear purchasing and operational guidelines are important to reduce user error.

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Section: ■ Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Point-of-Entry UV Treatment for Cistern Water among Households in the US Virgin Islands

et al. 2023

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“…Finally, passive chlorination has been demonstrated as a viable technique to provide potable water (Lindmark et al, 2022) and low-cost design options are currently being developed and tested for use in USVI (Voth-Gaeddert et al, 2022a). These systems may cost $150-200 for the units once fully developed and operational.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some households use only membrane filtration (∼$200-400), but depending on pore size, at best this can protect against large protozoan-based cysts (≤1 micron absolute filter), while bacteria and viruses can easily pass through. Finally, passive chlorination has been demonstrated as a viable technique to provide potable water (Lindmark et al, 2022) and low-cost design options are currently being developed and tested for use in USVI (Voth-Gaeddert et al, 2022a). These systems may cost $150-200 for the units once fully developed and operational.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Locally available water treatment options include both POE and POU systems leveraging UV light, filtration, or chlorine, while boiling and bottled water are also options utilized in USVI (Voth-Gaeddert et al, 2022a, 2022b). One POE water treatment option hypothesized to be effective at producing potable water for the entire house is the UV treatment system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluating the Effectiveness of Point-of-Entry UV Treatment for Cistern Water Among Households in the US Virgin Islands

Voth-Gaeddert

Momberg

Brathwaite

et al. 2022

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UV water treatment can be a viable option for point-of-entry applications among households utilizing private water sources. In the US Virgin Islands (USVI), the primary water source is roof-harvested rainwater, collected in large cisterns and supplied to household taps via a pump. While diversification of water sources provides increased resilience to climate change, literature suggests rainwater catchment systems are at high risk of microbial contamination. One option USVI households have is UV systems. However, limited data is available on UV system effectiveness for USVI installations while these systems can be expensive. Therefore, Love City Strong, a local NGO, piloted a multi-year UV access program which included free UV systems with prefiltration along with installation and monthly household visits for up to 12 months including water quality testing. In addition, due to the significant costs associated with the prefiltration portion of the system, a pilot study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the UV systems without prefiltration.The results from the UV system access program demonstrated thatE. coliwas not detected in 95.2% of tap samples (n=271). Among samples with detectable levels ofE. coliand total coliforms, turbidity was lower compared to samples with non-detections. Field teams reported user error was often identified in association withE. colidetections (e.g., bypass was opened). Among all samples from the pilot study of UV systems without prefiltration, noE. coliwas detected (n=24). Total first-year costs for locally available UV systems with and without prefiltration ranged from $1,059-$1,645 and $927-$1,183, respectively, while operation and maintenance (O& M) costs ranged from $166-$266 and $142-$146, respectively. Given these data, UV systems may be a viable option for generating potable water; however, clear purchasing and installation protocols are needed as well as simple O&M guidelines for households to reduce user error.SynopsisPoint-of-entry UV systems were able to produce water for domestic use with no detectable E. coli in 95.2% of samples among USVI households using roof-harvested rainwater.

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“…For locally available water treatment options, previous work has been conducted to evaluate or predict the effectiveness of specific water treatment technologies including chlorination (Voth-Gaeddert & Schranck, 2021;Lindmark et al, 2022;Voth-Gaeddert et al, 2022a, 2022b, filtration (Voth-Gaeddert et al, 2022a), and UV (Voth-Gaeddert et al, 2022c) at the levels of whole-house (point-of-entry) and point-of-use. In addition, mechanisms to protect household cistern water from becoming contaminated have also been identified (Rao et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the costs and components of a territory-wide household water storage and treatment program in the US Virgin Islands

et al. 2022

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Among island communities, water security and access continue to be a critical issue. In the US Virgin Islands (USVI), 90% of households are capable of collecting roof-harvested rainwater, whereas less than 25% of households are connected to a municipal water system serviced by desalination plants. Rainwater collection leaves the household in charge of managing and treating their own water. Therefore, understanding current barriers to accessing water treatment technologies and the costs of a water storage and treatment program at scale are critical in developing a territory-wide program. In this study, we evaluate (1) household-level barriers to accessing water treatment technologies, (2) a cost breakdown of a UV water treatment pilot program, and (3) potential estimates of program costs at a territory-wide scale. The results suggest that for households, key barriers include knowledge of the problem or solution and capital and installation costs. From the programmatic cost evaluation, the water treatment technology and water testing services were the most expensive. However, given key adjustments, a territory-wide program is estimated to cost $30.4 M covering 50% of households. These data can be used by a coalition of stakeholders in allocating financial and managerial responsibility for a territory-wide water storage and treatment program in the USVI.

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Design and Evaluation of a Household Chlorination System for Treating Cistern Water in the US Virgin Islands

Cited by 5 publications

References 3 publications

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Point-of-Entry UV Treatment for Cistern Water among Households in the US Virgin Islands

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Point-of-Entry UV Treatment for Cistern Water among Households in the US Virgin Islands

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Point-of-Entry UV Treatment for Cistern Water Among Households in the US Virgin Islands

Evaluating the costs and components of a territory-wide household water storage and treatment program in the US Virgin Islands

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