Efficiency in the disinfection of water for human consumption in rural communities using solar radiation

The efficiency of solar disinfection for the inactivation of Total Coliforms (TC) and Escherichia coli (EC) in drinking water was tested in rural communities of the Guachochi Municipality, in the Tarahumara Sierra, State of Chihuahua, Mexico. The study zone was selected mostly because it lacks formal water supply systems and the population is forced to consume untreated water directly from rivers and shallow or artesian wells without treatment. To determine the bacteriological quality of the water consumed by the population, the amount of TC and EC in the water supplies of 23 communities in the studied municipality was determined. The efficiency of the solar energy based water disinfection process was determined for several months of the humid and dry seasons with water from the most contaminated sources of the study zone. The performed tests consisted in studying the effect of disinfecting water by direct exposure to sunlight during the whole day, with and without solar concentrators, in plastic bottles of commercial beverages. The three types of bottles used were transparent, partially painted black (one half of the bottle, along the longitudinal axis), and totally black. The study shows that, in this geographic zone, the available water must be disinfected before consumption and disinfection efficiency can reach 100% through the use of solar radiation. It was found that, since more than 6h of daily solar radiation are available during most of the year in this zone, no solar concentrators are really necessary to ensure the complete elimination of bacteria. A complete disinfection takes place by simply placing water bottles in the sunlight during the whole day. Nevertheless, the use of solar concentrators and bottles partially painted black increases the TC and EC inactivation efficiency, reducing the solar exposure time required for a total disinfection to just 2h. With the use of solar concentratorsand partially blackened bottles, the water temperature reached 65 C, while only 50 C were achieved when using the same concentrators and completely transparent bottles. 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.