Paying too much for purity? Development of more appropriate emergency water treatment methods

The provision of an adequate water supply in the early stages of a rapid onset crisis often requires use of contaminated surface water where normal supplies are disrupted or are not available. In these situations people affected are invariably without basic services for a period of time and often denied any say in the type of “emergency assistance” that are provided for them. This creates an environment in which accountability for the choice of assistance provided is minimal. Some organisations place a premium upon providing Mobile Package Water Treatment Systems (MPWTS), which may cost substantial amounts of money, often do not cope with high suspended solids loading and are very dependent on imported technology and personnel. In order to challenge the assumptions made by commercial companies who developed these units, Oxfam in collaboration with the University of Surrey, set out to develop its own water treatment options that would be more closely aligned with peoples needs.