Abstract
D.Tech. (Biomedical Technology)
BACKGROUND: In South Africa, recent diarrheal outbreaks have raised
concern about water quality among the general population. There has been
an increase in the South African media concerning water quality, which has
led to the South African public becoming more conscious of the quality of
the tap water supplied to them. Although many programs, such as the Blue
Drop Certification Scheme and TAP (Tap Analysis Program), have been
implemented to assure South Africans that their water is safe to drink, not
all municipalities meet the requirements for drinking water quality. This,
coupled with mistrust of water quality and municipality compliance with
regulation, has led to South African consumers’ looking to home treatment
methods to ensure they consume clean, safe drinking water.
RESEARCH PROBLEM: Current South African legislation requires that ‘all
water filtration device components must be approved by the South African
Bureau of Standards (SABS) or local authority South African National
Standard (SANS)’. However, it does not explicitly prohibit the import and
sale of such products, nor does it recommend rigorous testing of devices for
compliancy. The problem; although home water treatment devices
(HWTDs) can be used to treat water, devices may not be tested for their
removal capabilities, nor have any certification ensuring that they do in fact
remove what their manufacturers claim. Misinformed consumers will
purchase HWTDs, in good faith, that what has been advertised as the
removal capabilities of the device, are true and have been tested for. In
addition, consumers are not aware that different filter technologies provide
protection for different contaminants and that are specifications for use of
these devices. For example, some devices explicitly state that they ‘must
only be used with municipally supplied tap water’. This raises concern as
panicked consumers will purchase devices and not identify contaminant
removal capabilities, or specifications. Most of these products are not
certified, or are certified solely for structural integrity, and inferior products
increase the risk to the consumer. In addition, some municipalities in South...