In pursuit of clean water

SAFE DRINKING WATER. Having clean drinking water in your home does not have to mean buying it from the supermarket, writes Rebecca Rwakabukoza.

You might have been engaged in debate in primary school and at some point there was a “Water is Life”. Whether you were a proponent or opponent, you had used water that morning to brush your teeth. You had probably drunk water before you left the house and had a bottle of juice in your bag on your way to school. We consume water all the time and it is important to keep this water clean enough for consumption.

Boiling
Boiling water is the best and most common method of water purification. It will kill bacterial, parasitic and viral organisms. If you want to kill all possible germs, it is recommended that you boil the water for 20 minutes. Let it be at full boiling point for a minute or so.

Filtering
Filters are one way to purify water. These are available in some of the larger supermarkets and are not as effective as heat treatment. Their pores will help eliminate the larger organisms as well as any other foreign particles in the water. You will likely notice that the water becomes clear, or less cloudy. Because germs like viruses are much smaller, you will not be able to get rid of them.

Water Treatment
There are a lot of products available on the market like PACE’s Water Guard, a hypochlorite additive and Uganda Health Marketing Group’s Aqua Safe tablets. If correctly used, these will help clean your water. But you must read and follow instructions to be sure you use the right measurements. If a Water Guard tablet is to go into a 20-litre jerry-can then you must be sure that the jerry-can is full and that you drop in just the one tablet.

Purification by Sunlight
This is a solution that was discovered accidentally in 1980s by Aftim Acra, a professor at the American University in Beirut. Acra left a bottle of contaminated water on the windowsill of his lab one morning. Upon retrieving it at the end of the day, he discovered that the germs in the water were gone. It is perhaps one of the cheapest methods but one has to be careful with it. The water should have a clear film or glass, or be in a clear plastic container to allow the sun’s UV-rays in. Choose a spot away from the children, dust and animals and leave the container full of water in an open space from morning to late afternoon. If it was a dull day, you might have to do it again on a sunny day.

Containers
Be sure that all the containers you use are clean. Be careful with containers that have been previously used to store chemicals and, pesticides. It might be easier to not use them at all because cleaning might not rid them of the chemicals inside completely. It is easy to purify water and then re-contaminate it with the container or cup of choice.