A promising alternative for water flocculation with Moringa oleifera in Ecuador

According to the inter-American development bank, Latin America is known for its high availability of water resources as it concentrates a third of the world's total water resources; but this availability is affected and reduced because reasons such as water resources distribution is not equitable throughout the area, 53% of the regional runoff is concentrated in the Amazon River, countries with large urban centers have low water quality and many others have a natural chemical quality of water that is not good due to the presence of arsenic and boron for example [1]. In Latin America, 34 million of people do not have access to drinking water [1].

Ecuador is a country with one of the highest concentration of rivers per square kilometer in the world; but there is also evidence of the poor quality of its water resources and the pollution problems they have [2].

By 2013, only 34% of its rural population had access to potable water and 25% to sewerage services. This is mainly associated with the lack of infrastructure and the necessary budgets allocated to them [2].

This paper deals with a proposal for water purification that consists of the use of the Moringa olifeira plant to facilitate the flocculation process, considering that its use reduces the costs associated with water treatment and minimizes the concentration of metals in the residual sludge. The influence dosage effects of crushed Ecuadorian Moringa oleifera seeds during coagulation-flocculation processes were explored using Jar tests.

The aims of the paper are (i) to identify the most effective dosage of crushed Ecuadorian Moringa oleifera seeds in the flocculation processes (ii) to show and discuss an alternative for the need of interventions in potabilization fields in order to improve the quality of life in Ecuador due to the lack of its coverage.

References

[1] Interamerican devolpment bank, 2018. Informe del Proceso Regional de las Américas Foro Mundial del Agua, available at the website: https://www.cepal.org/sites/default/files/news/files/informe_regional_america_latina_y_caribe.pdf

[2] CEPAL, 2018. Diagnóstico de las estadísticas del agua en Ecuador, available at the website: https://aplicaciones.senagua.gob.ec/servicios/descargas/archivos/download/Diagnostico%20de%20las%20Estadisticas%20del%20Agua%20Producto%20IIIc%202012-2.pdf