Conference paper
Monitoring bacterial water quality in rainwater tanks using the H2S method. Rainwater Harvesting Workshop – A new paradigm to meet milennium development goals and sustainability
4th World Water Congress, Workshop papers (Marrakesh, Morocco, 21/09/2004–22/09/2004)
2004
Abstract
The collection and storage of rainwater for household purposes is becoming increasingly essential
in all parts of the world due to the shortage of good quality drinking water. Rainwater is usually of
good quality but is prone to chemical and microbial contamination from the collection and storage
systems. Chemical contamination is easier to control with good installation strategies, but
microbial contamination is very unpredictable and occurs from any organic litter, faecal deposits
of birds or from dead animals from roof tops. The intensity of contamination varies with
temperature, season and cleaning strategies adopted. Therefore to ensure the safety of rainwater
used for drinking, regular testing of the microbial quality is important. The standard methods and
most of the onsite methods available are expensive, require technical expertise and /or laboratory
facilities to conduct the test which is impossible for rainwater tank owners to conduct routinely.
Therefore only a low cost and technically simple onsite method can meet the purpose of testing
rainwater tanks. This paper suggest the use of H2S method which is simple and easy enough for
the householders to test their rainwater tanks regularly. The method has also been identified as a
good screening method for testing microbial quality of drinking water.
Details
- Title
- Monitoring bacterial water quality in rainwater tanks using the H2S method. Rainwater Harvesting Workshop – A new paradigm to meet milennium development goals and sustainability
- Authors/Creators
- J. Nair (Author/Creator)G. Ho (Author/Creator)
- Conference
- 4th World Water Congress, Workshop papers (Marrakesh, Morocco, 21/09/2004–22/09/2004)
- Identifiers
- 991005542825407891
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Environmental Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Conference paper
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