Abstract:
Ceramic materials are easy to make using most African soils. They have been used for a long time mainly for
cooking and water storage. However, in other low income economies these clay ceramic filters have been shown to
have the potential of being improved by being embedded with carbonaceous materials for water purification. In this
research we have produced efficient physiological and biological gravity operated smoked pots for water purification.
We used well calculated volume ratios of black clay, red and sand soils (B:R:S) and soil balls; All these were baked at
different smoke infusing kiln temperatures for efficient water purification. We analyzed water purification efficiencies
of the pot ceramics and the trickling rates at different conditions. We isolated the best B:R:S to be the 40:40:20. We
found significant reductions in turbidity (99.95%), salinity (21.42%), microbial populations, total dissolved solutes
(TDS) (17.19%), pH (1.39%) and electrical conductivity (EC) (16.92%). These ceramics can be crucial for common
or nomadic communities in sub-Saharan rural areas and in times of disaster to guarantee a cheap continued supply
of clean potable water for better health amongst the low income earning societies.
