Most people in the United States drink from the water fountain without too much to worry about its safety, but for others in poorer parts of the world, contaminants such as arsenic in drinking water are a real concern.
This is what inspired Portland State graduate students Jacob Scherberg and Dileep Patel to do research on better water filtration systems for developing countries.
Scherberg’s water purification project is one of 15 student sustainability grant proposals to be funded by the $25 million matching grant for sustainability donated to Portland State from the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation lat September. More than 40 groups applied for grant funding.
Scherberg, an environmental engineering student, got the idea for the water purification project through his past work with an organization called Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST).
“I’ve been interested for a long time on working on water quality issues in the developing world,” Scherberg said.
So when he learned about Portland State accepting student research proposals, Scherberg contacted CAWST about any research needs they had regarding water purification and they told him about possible research on ceramic filtration systems.
With that information and a little work, Scherberg turned it into a winning proposal.
“We are combining two different technologies for different aspects of water treatments,” Scherberg said. “It’s intended to be used or at least give some reference data for people involved in projects in places where natural arsenic contamination is a major problem.”
The basic idea of the project is to research the effectiveness of ceramic filters at removing biological contaminants in water and the use of ferric oxide to dissolve arsenic.
Patel, also an environmental engineer, took part in writing the research proposal and will be assisting Scherberg in research.
“I’ll be helping doing analysis of the water samples in the laboratory. And I’ll be fixing the ceramic filtration system,” Patel said.
Arsenic is a cancer-causing agent that can affect the lungs, bladder and skin, and is often naturally occurring, Patel said.
“It does occur in the U.S., but I don’t think it’s a big problem in municipal water supplies,” Scherberg said, stating that with strict regulations for water systems keeps arsenic from becoming an issue in the United States.
Scherberg said that arsenic in water is mainly a prevalent issue in certain developing countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and India.
“Their problem is that they had a large number of wells that were drilled into geologic formations that already had arsenic in them,” Scherberg said.
By using materials like clay to make the ceramic, the students hope to make the system more affordable, since these materials are easily available to those countries that need these systems.
“Our aim is to help develop a filtration system that people can build locally and is cost effective,” Patel said.
During the research process, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering Gwynn Johnson will be overseeing the project.
“She’s been very helpful in guiding us in writing a real good project proposal and consulting with us about the different designs and the different aspects that could arise in the way that it works and functionality,” Scherberg said.
Johnson will also aid in doing chemical analysis.
“We’re in the initial stages, we’re getting ready to run some water tests, hopefully next week or the following week,” Scherberg said.
Right now Scherberg and Patel are just waiting for the shipment of supplies.
Scherberg said that they have had difficulty working with the materials to build the system, but so far the challenges have not been more than expected on a project such as this one.
“I’m always trying to be aware of unforeseen complications,” Scherberg said.
When the students are done with their research, they will get the chance to present their findings to the Miller Grant Committee in late June, along with the other 14 research teams. This research is just part of the larger body of research concerning water filtration, Scherberg said.
“There’s a lot of different variables that we don’t have the time and the funding to test for this project alone, but it will set the groundwork for doing more work in the future,” Scherberg said.