Economic study of the treatment of surface water by small ultrafiltration units

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the possibility of utilising an ultrafiltration process for the treatment of water from the dam in the Kabylia region of Algeria and, in particular, for the provision of drinking water to people living in dispersed small villages. The water quality was determined by measuring turbidity, and natural organic matter concentration. The results obtained with an ultrafiltration process indicate that this technique can considerably reduce suspended and organic matter. It also improves the bacteriological quality of the treated water. An economic evaluation for ultrafiltration of surface water is presented. The economic study was performed for a drinking water unit of 20 m3/h. It was found that the cost per m3 of treated water ($ 0.235/m3) obtained would not be excessively high for the states of the North African region.