Cheap Drinking water - Cholera blue-green algae DR ISLAM

Siraj Mixture

alum potash, bleaching powder and lime in the proportion of 1.40:0.15:0.45
on TV they showed a sachet of white powder, maybe 10 grams,
does anyone know the exact dose (for 15 liters)??
please leave a comment below!

Clean drinking 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 = 0.5 cent US

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.

Authors: M.S. Islam (sislam@icddrb.org), Z.H. Mahmud, M.H. Uddin, M. Yunus, S.P. Luby, G.B. Nair, D.A. Sack

ICDDR,B, GPO Box 128, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh

Background: In Bangladesh, 75 million epi­sodes and 110,000 deaths occur due to diar­rhoeal diseases every year, and US$ 80 million is spent for treatment alone by the Govern­ment of Bangladesh. The main reason for the high incidence of diarrhoeal diseases is mainly contaminated water. Objective: To reduce the incidence of diarrhoeal diseases in rural communities in Bangladesh by us­ing Siraj Mixture (a newly-developed water-purifying agent) as point-of-use water treat­ment strategy. Methodology: Siraj Mixture is a combination of alum potash, bleaching powder, and lime. A pilot study was conduct­ed in 10,000 people in Matlab from May to December 2006. Siraj Mixture was provided to 210 households each in study and control population. In the study households, in ad­dition to Siraj Mixture, H2S kit was supplied to test water before and after treatment with the mixture to monitor contamination. The incidence of diarrhoeal diseases in both study and control households was monitored us­ing ICDDR,B hospital records. Results: Not a single patient was admitted with diarrhoea in ICDDR,B hospital from the families who used Siraj Mixture during the study period (2006) but, at the same time in 2005, there were 8 cases from the same families. Dur­ing the same period from May to December (2005), there were 29 cases from the neigh­bouring households which increased to 50 cases in 2006. On the 20th week of the study, 46 and 29 families of the study and control population respectively shifted from tube­well water to treated surface water for drink­ing purpose due to arsenic contamination in tubewell water. There was no significant dif­ference in the use of Siraj Mixture (t=0.4232, df=43.5, p=0.6742) between the study and control populations. Conclusion: The Gov­ernment of Bangladesh may save thousands of lives and millions of dollars every year providing Siraj Mixture for treating con­taminated water. Indirect costs, including losses in productivity (absenteeism) and loss of productive years of life as a consequence of premature deaths, will also be saved. Therefore, this study will have an impact on achieving Millennium Development Goal (MGD) in Bangladesh.