Determining the Effectiveness of Bio-sand Filtration to Remove Coliforms from Drinking Water along the Tapajos River in Para, Brazil
Department
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Major
Environmental Engineering and Biological Sciences
Research Advisor
Oerther, Daniel B.
Advisor's Department
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Funding Source
John A. and Susan Mathes Endowed Chair of Environmental Engineering
Abstract
The Tapajos River resides on a flat plain where when the rainy season commences the water level rises several feet vertically causing the coasts to expand sfrom half a mile across to several miles across. This causes people living along the river to be unable to attain clean water easily. Bio-sand filters are used by people along the river to obtain consumable drinking water. The objective of this research is to determine whether the sand filters are effectively removing contaminants from the water. The method used to determine the amount of coliforms present in the drinking water is the m-ColiBlue24© assay. Using this method, filtered drinking water is passed through a filter paper which is applied to a petri dish with an ampule of m-ColiBlue24© broth and incubated. After 24 hours, colonies were counted in the dish; colonies that grew blue indicated E. coli colonies whereas red and blue colonies both indicated total coliforms.
Biography
Tommy is a senior in Environmental Engineering and Biological Sciences and is planning on pursuing a career in providing clean drinking water to impoverished peoples in order to raise their standard of living. Tommy is currently involved in Engineers without Borders where he is the chlorination team lead for a project that is providing water to roughly 2200 people in Nahualate, Guatemala. He has instructed the Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering lab for three semesters and plans to continue on with teaching sometime in the future. Previously Tommy did research with Dr. Oerther in microbial source tracking in attempts to determine the origination of E. coli spikes at Lake of the Ozarks, MO. Tommy has a strong background with water treatment and continues to push forward into new ventures in his specialized area.
Research Category
Engineering
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Document Type
Poster
Location
Upper Atrium/Hallway
Presentation Date
03 Apr 2013, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Determining the Effectiveness of Bio-sand Filtration to Remove Coliforms from Drinking Water along the Tapajos River in Para, Brazil
Upper Atrium/Hallway
The Tapajos River resides on a flat plain where when the rainy season commences the water level rises several feet vertically causing the coasts to expand sfrom half a mile across to several miles across. This causes people living along the river to be unable to attain clean water easily. Bio-sand filters are used by people along the river to obtain consumable drinking water. The objective of this research is to determine whether the sand filters are effectively removing contaminants from the water. The method used to determine the amount of coliforms present in the drinking water is the m-ColiBlue24© assay. Using this method, filtered drinking water is passed through a filter paper which is applied to a petri dish with an ampule of m-ColiBlue24© broth and incubated. After 24 hours, colonies were counted in the dish; colonies that grew blue indicated E. coli colonies whereas red and blue colonies both indicated total coliforms.
