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Arsenic Water Filter
Presenter: Jamil Husain, CEO, Telophase Corporation

An "estimated" 77 to 95 million people in Bangladesh drink water containing more than 50 micrograms per liter (μg/L) [or] 50 parts per billion (ppb) of arsenic. That is five times the safe standard issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Prolonged exposure to arsenic-contaminated water can result in serious health complications: hyper-pigmentation, hyperkeratosis, and cancer. While arsenic removal technologies are globally available, their high cost, disposal issues, and environmental effects have made widespread implementation difficult. Our solution is to build a low-cost filter device consisting of a filter and the encasement. The filter device is rated to provide 50 liters of water per day for 365 day with as average concentration of 1,000 ppb. A current implementation of this filter has been successfully deployed in several Indian villages and is the only technology officially certified by the Indian government. The cost of the filter itself is Taka 131 and after manufacturing the encasement in Bangladesh the total cost is approximately Taka 400-800 (US $6-$12). The filter works on the principle of co-precipitation of arsenic and iron and adsorption on iron oxyhydroxides, and has a one-year lifespan. The devices could be sold to villagers who can then be trained to sell, manage, and distribute the filters and arsenic-free water to their community at a low cost. Here, the arsenic-laden waste is bound with sand to form impermeable M-2519 standard grade concrete construction blocks resulting in no waste generation, thus making the technology environmentally friendly.

Contact: tsanchez@telophase.com

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