IWRA Proceedings

Abstract:

The rural population being most vulnerable, marginalized and poor in Colombia, has no access to potable water for human consumption due to lack of economic resources in order to obtain industrial chemicals used in water treatment, such as aluminum sulfate to the process of clarification and chlorine disinfection, whose high costs in the market fails to purchase, in addition, the construction of physical infrastructure to make the treatment process technology and materials involved are inaccessible to this population by their high costs. This forces millions of people consuming untreated water and whose consequences are high rates of morbidity and mortality, especially among children as the most vulnerable. This research achieves the design and construction of a treatment plant for small water flows and focus for the rural population, whose process of clarification and disinfection is achieved by the replacement of industrial chemicals with natural products and biologically active substances which occur naturally in plants as bioactive compounds used by its qualities, called phytochemicals, are able to obtain the same efficiency, effectiveness, low cost and effective harmless to human health. This was achieved by physical, chemical and bacteriological laboratory showed that so. Treatment and application of natural products is given in small domestic treatment system constructed in lightweight materials, durable and economic such as PVC, wood and plastic, treating the water in a conventional free-flow and no power consumption, ensuring its applicability, benefit and sustainability over time.

Keywords Rural water, phytochemical