Microbiological effectiveness of household water treatment technologies under field use conditions in rural Tanzania

Hussein Mohamed; Thomas Clasen; Robert Mussa Njee; Hamisi M Malebo; Stephen Mbuligwe; Joe Brown

doi:10.1111/tmi.12628

Microbiological effectiveness of household water treatment technologies under field use conditions in rural Tanzania

Trop Med Int Health. 2016 Jan;21(1):33-40. doi: 10.1111/tmi.12628. Epub 2015 Nov 19.

Authors

Hussein Mohamed^{1

2}, Thomas Clasen³, Robert Mussa Njee⁴, Hamisi M Malebo⁵, Stephen Mbuligwe², Joe Brown⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
² School of Environmental Science and Technology, Ardhi University, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
³ Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
⁴ National Institute for Medical Research, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
⁵ Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁶ School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.

PMID: 26505903
DOI: 10.1111/tmi.12628

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the microbiological effectiveness of several household water treatment and safe storage (HWTS) options in situ in Tanzania, before consideration for national scale-up of HWTS.

Methods: Participating households received supplies and instructions for practicing six HWTS methods on a rotating 5-week basis. We analysed 1202 paired samples (source and treated) of drinking water from 390 households, across all technologies. Samples were analysed for thermotolerant (TTC) coliforms, an indicator of faecal contamination, to measure effectiveness of treatment in situ.

Results: All HWTS methods improved microbial water quality, with reductions in TTC of 99.3% for boiling, 99.4% for Waterguard^™ brand sodium hypochlorite solution, 99.5% for a ceramic pot filter, 99.5% for Aquatab^® sodium dichloroisocyanurate (NaDCC) tablets, 99.6% for P&G Purifier of Water^™ flocculent/disinfectant sachets, and 99.7% for a ceramic siphon filter. Microbiological performance was relatively high compared with other field studies and differences in microbial reductions between technologies were not statistically significant.

Conclusions: Given that microbiological performance across technologies was comparable, decisions regarding scale-up should be based on other factors, including uptake in the target population and correct, consistent, and sustained use over time.

Keywords: calidad del agua; household water treatment; qualité de l'eau; traitement de l'eau des ménages; tratamiento del agua en el hogar; water quality.