TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
Think Big
Think Big
SOLAR DISINFECTION OF WATER
Related to country: Kenya

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

SOLAR DISINFECTION OF WATER (SODIS)

SODIS is a new innovative way of cleaning drinking water by exposing it to Ultra violet rays from the sun for a specific period of time.
What happens is that the UV rays kill the harmful microbes in the water that may make the water unsafe for drinking.

The length of time varies depending on the source of the water. For very dirty water (Within reason), the length of time in which the water is exposed to UV rays is longer while clear stream water requires relatively shorter periods of time, to be pronounced clean for drinking.

What actually happens is, after the water has been fetched, the user first filers the water to remove the visible debris the pours the water into a clean PET water bottle then puts the water bottles on the roof for the purification process to take place.

The duration in which the bottles will stay on the roof also depends on the cloud cover on that particular day with bottles taking longer on the roof during very cloudy days.

The duration of Solar Water Disinfection varies between 3 days to 12 days.

The SODIS method of water disinfection is mostly used in the Slum areas where there is low sanitation and the cost of boiling water to drink competes with other basic costs such as food and medicines.

SODIS, a World Health Organization backed method of sterilization of water for slum areas has successfully been used in many countries including Kenya (Kibera, Mukuru Kwa Njenga), Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru, among others.

The SODIS method is effective and easy to implement in any slum area. In fact the challenge is usually not to convince the people that the water is safe for drinking, but, to raise the required numbers of bottles to sustain the programme in the various areas. This is putting into consideration not only the bottles required by the new users of the disinfection method, but also the fact that the bottles can only be used for short periods of time before they are thrown away, as the bottles are already recycled.

This method has helped reduce the number of people suffering from such infectious diseases as Cholera and Typhoid, both of which are quite rampant in areas of poor sanitation, as is found in the slums.
It has also enabled people to comfortably focus their hard-earned money on other more pressing matters, like education, better sanitation and housing.

My appeal to all people is to recycle PET water bottles by taking empty water bottles to the nearest SODIS offices in their countries, to make it possible to implement this program in more places, with more people.

In Kenya, the SODIS program is under the Kenya Water for Health Organization, Ministry of Water.

To know more about SODIS: http://www.sodis.ch/

August 12, 2009 | 12:18 PM Comments  0 comments

Tags:
You must be logged in to add tags.


FIONA MUMOKI's Profile

FIONA MUMOKI's Friends


Latest Posts
SOLAR DISINFECTION OF...
What is the role of...
PLANT TISSUE CULTURE
HOPE IN THE HORIZON
KENYAN YOUTH, THIS IS...

Monthly Archive

Change Language


Tags Archive
loveandunity peace peaceloveandunity

Filter By Type
News
Travel
Topics

Friends
Choudhary Arif
kims25
maurice O. Odhiambo

Links
Academy of Achievers
CNN
Twinkle


9552 views
Important Disclaimer