Development and dissemination of Kanchan™ Arsenic Filter in rural Nepal

Abstract

In the rural Terai region of Nepal, many tubewell drinking water sources are microbially and/or arsenic contaminated and consequently, millions lack access to “safe” water. Those who drink contaminated water may suffer from preventable water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea, stunting, skin lesions, and cancer. To combat this problem, a team comprising researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), together with two local partners, Environment & Public Health Organization (ENPHO), and Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Support Programme (RWSSSP), have developed an award-winning household water filter, the Kanchan™ Arsenic Filter (KAF), for simultaneous arsenic and pathogen removal. The KAF is constructed using locally available labour and materials and is optimised based on the local socio-economic conditions. The first part of this paper explains the technology development process and the technical details of this innovation. The second part of this paper describes the dissemination activities since 2004. This dissemination model not only built capacity in local people towards long-term, user-participatory safe water provision, but also made a contribution to the local economy. As of January 2006, over 25,000 people have gained access to safe water as a result of the implementation of the KAF.

Technologies for Decentralized Fluoride Removal: Testing Metallic Iron-based Filters

“…During the past two decades, great efforts have been made to develop Fe 0 filters for use in decentralized water supply systems in developing countries, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile, India, Nepal and Vietnam [39,40,64,66,72,[78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86]. Several Fe 0 filters exist and were also developed/optimized by scientists from many institutions worldwide, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [78,79], George Mason University [81] and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology [86,87].…”

“…Several Fe 0 filters exist and were also developed/optimized by scientists from many institutions worldwide, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [78,79], George Mason University [81] and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology [86,87].…”

“…If this operation is successful, such filtration systems will be able to be manufactured in the developing world using commonly available tools [39,78,79,81,85,134,135].…”

Enhancing sustainability of household water filters by mixing metallic iron with porous materials

“…In fact, very efficient Fe [31][32][33][34] but were abandoned because of service lives of only 6 to 24 weeks [35][36][37]. Hussam [37] reported that 3-Kolshi filters were "highly functional, but not sustainable" as the filters experienced permeability loss after 3 to 6 months.…”

Cleaning up water

“…Some extremely economical devices have already been conceived for developing-world situations, which can be manufactured immediately using sustainable resources, many of which are available at the point of use. Good examples are the terracotta filtration devices developed by Potters for Peace, which can be made by local workers 8 , and the Kanchan arsenic filters made from very basic materials: iron nails, brick, sand and gravel 9 . But more could be done to apply science in the development of lowtech filters; even more pressing is the need for cheap and easy-to-operate devices to identify contaminated waters and quantify levels of pollution, to ascertain the degree of danger from its consumption.…”