Design and Fabrication of a Portable Tubular Filter Pipe for Borehole Water Purification Systems

Abstract

Two main sources of water (the surface water and underground water) were briefly discussed in this paper. Filtration which is a very significant treatment process for both surface water and underground water was also discussed. A portable tubular filter pipe for borehole water purification system was designed and fabricated. The materials used in the portable tubular filter pipe (sand layer depth of 0.15m of size 0.8 – 2mm and coarse gravel layer depth of 0.02m of size 5- 8mm) were sourced locally. The coarse aggregate (gravel) layer served as support and distribution of water while the sand layer served as the filter medium. The diameter of the portable tubular filter pipe was assumed to take 4 inches PVC diameter pipe (0.1016m). The design reveals that the filter area is 0.0479m2 , the flowrate in the filter is 8 x 10-5m 3 /s, the filter volume is 0.02m3 and the headloss in the filter is 0.5m. Materials used for the fabrication of the portable tubular filter pipe are PVC materials that are easily available in water treatment stores. Tests were carried with the fabricated portable tubular filter pipe on borehole water. The results show that the portable tubular filter pipe performed relatively well in purifying borehole water.