Abstract
The provision of safe drinking water is a fundamental right of basic health and an extremely high priority of the Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy. Only 40% of the people in Malawi have access to safe drinking water at any one time. Conventional water purification systems are prohibitively expensive for developing countries. The bulk of research work carried out in developing countries has concentrated on surface and borehole water quality with barely any work on monitoring water quality from shallow wells. The extent of pollution in shallow wells together with innovative, sustainable and economical solutions for rural villagers needs to be developed.
This research work has focused on establishing data on water quality from shallow wells in southern Malawi with the view to developing a technology that uses indigenous plant extracts to purify the groundwater. An in-situ water testing kit was used to determine the water quality. The majority of the physico-chemical parameters were found to be within the recommended limits; however, microbiological water quality results showed that the water can be grossly polluted with faecal matter and the likely presence of disease causing microorganisms. Preliminary laboratory tests on a powdered extract from the common indigenous plant Moringa oleifera are sufficiently encouraging for microbiological purification for further more detailed work to be planned.
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Pritchard, M., Mkandawire, T., O’Neill, J.G. (2009). Groundwater Pollution in Shallow Wells in Southern Malawi and a Potential Indigenous Method of Water Purification. In: Yanful, E.K. (eds) Appropriate Technologies for Environmental Protection in the Developing World. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9139-1_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9139-1_17
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