Technical and social acceptance evaluation of an ultrafiltration membrane system for potable water supply to rural and remote communities

Abstract

When considering water treatment in small rural and peri-urban communities, sustainability is one of the most important factors to be considered. Sustainability needs to be considered from financial, technological and socio-political perspectives. The major problems with sustainability of conventional small water treatment systems are the difficulty of controlling chemical treatment processes, especially when the raw water quality changes, and the production of substandard quality water. Another very important problem is lack of community involvement, especially over the longer term. The acceptance of new technologies by the community is of crucial importance in ensuring successful water supply projects. The anticipation of more stringent drinking water quality regulations and decrease in adequate water sources have brought membrane separation processes such as microfiltration and ultrafiltration on the advantage for potable water supply to rural and peri-urban areas. Membrane processes have the advantage of production of superior quality water and addition of fewer chemicals in the treatment process. The pUIpose of this study was to further investigate the potential of ultrafiltration capillary membranes as a one-step membrane water treatment system for potable water supply to developing communities. To successfully transfer a technology to a particular community, the technology must be suitable and acceptable and a social study was therefore also done to understand the social acceptance factors that govern the acceptance of these new technologies.