Activity 6: Safe Water

PI: Dr. Md. Sirajul Islam

Every year in Bangladesh 75 million episodes of diarrhoeal diseases occur that results in approximately 110,000 deaths. The Government of Bangladesh alone spends US$80 million per annum in addressing this problem. One of the key reasons for the high incidence of diarrhoeal diseases is the use of contaminated water.

ICDDR,B conducted a study to evaluate the synergistic action of alum potash, bleaching powder and lime to purify contaminated surface water for drinking purpose. These disinfectants used individually do not purify the water to an acceptable limit. Dr. Sirajul Islam and his team in the Laboratory Science Division invented the Siraj Mixture - a precise combination of alum potash, bleaching powder and lime, which can purify 15 litres of surface water (enough to fill a traditional clay pitcher used in rural Bangladesh) from a pond, river, lake or canal within 30 minutes to meet the minimum WHO standard for drinking. The ingredients of the mixture cost only BDT 0.35.

The use of this mixture to purify surface water is simple, easy and inexpensive, and it can be used by anyone, anywhere without any special equipment or training. Siraj Mixture is especially useful during natural disasters like floods as well as in areas where ground water is contaminated with arsenic. The Government of Bangladesh may save million of dollars every year providing Siraj Mixture for the treatment of contaminated water, thus avoiding the loss of thousands of lives. Indirect costs including losses in productivity (absenteeism) and loss of productive years of life as a consequence of premature deaths will also be saved. This research into safer drinking water therefore has an impact on achieving all the health related Millennium Development Goals in Bangladesh.

Collaborating Institution:

• Primary Health Care (PHC), Directorate General of Health Service

Results:

• The most remarkable achievement is that during the study period of May 2006 to April 2007 in Matlab, not a single patient with diarrhoea was admitted to ICDDR,B Matlab hospital from 420 families who used the mixture. However during the same period (May 2006 to April 2007), a total of 83 diarrhoea patients were admitted to the Matlab hospital from the neighboring families.
• The study clearly demonstrates that the combination of these three commonly used disinfectants in a defined proportion can effectively treat surface water.
• After treatment with the mixture, the microbiological and chemical qualities of the water met the criteria for drinking water recommended by WHO and other organization such as USEPA.