SafaPani: A Household Electrocoagulation Arsenic Water Filter for Nepal and other Developing Countries

Arsenic contamination of drinking water is a major problem for many people worldwide, especially the inhabitants of Bangladesh and Nepal. Through Dartmouth Humanitarian Engineering (DHE) at Dartmouth College, we are working to create a home-based arsenic filtration system. The ultimate goal of this project is to provide highly effective, reliable and affordable filters for the people affected by this problem in Nepal and other countries. This paper illustrates the purpose of the project, reports results obtained while creating various components of the filer, and discusses future plans to create a fully assembled, deployable prototype. Our current working prototype can get arsenic concentration below the WHO safe drinking limit of 10ppb – specifically to 2.58ppb starting from 260 ppb.