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Reverse osmosis units in groundwater based public water supply system in rural eastern Karnataka, India: an analysis


Affiliations
1 Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India, India
2 Centre for Advanced Research in Environmental Radioactivity, Mangalore University, Mangala Gangothri, Mangaluru 574 199, India, India
3 Indo-French Cell for Water Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India; Geosciences Environment Toulouse, 31400 Toulouse, France, India
4 Indo-French Cell for Water Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India, India
 

Adequacy, eco-friendliness and desirability of continuation of reverse osmosis (RO) purification of groundwater for providing safe drinking water to villages in the groundwater resource-deficient eastern Karnataka, India, have been studied in 15 villages in 4 districts of the state, where high fluoride and uranium contamination has been observed. The results indicate that: (i) except in Chitradurga district, there are an inadequate number of RO facilities; (ii) RO water consumption is far less than the minimum amount recommended for drinking by WHO; (iii) while the benchmark of the best performance for RO membranes is >99%, the RO units in use show an ave­rage fluoride and uranium rejection percentage of 92.6 and 95.1 respectively; and (iv) similar to almost all RO units, the installed ones are also wasting water in the water-deficient eastern Karnataka and discharging concentrate with a higher percentage of contaminants into the environment. Better management of RO units and RO concentrate is required.

Keywords

Contaminants, environmental friendliness, groundwater, reverse osmosis, sustainable rural water supply.
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  • Reverse osmosis units in groundwater based public water supply system in rural eastern Karnataka, India: an analysis

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Authors

R. Srinivasan
Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India, India
S. A. Pandit
Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India, India
Ganesh Khatei
Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India, India
N. Karunakara
Centre for Advanced Research in Environmental Radioactivity, Mangalore University, Mangala Gangothri, Mangaluru 574 199, India, India
K. Sudeep Kumara
Centre for Advanced Research in Environmental Radioactivity, Mangalore University, Mangala Gangothri, Mangaluru 574 199, India, India
Jean Riotte
Indo-French Cell for Water Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India; Geosciences Environment Toulouse, 31400 Toulouse, France, India
Hemant Moger
Indo-French Cell for Water Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India, India
P. Amala David
Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India, India
Manoj Jindal
Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India, India
G. Gowrisankar
Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India, India
Kavitha Devi Ramkumar
Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India, India

Abstract


Adequacy, eco-friendliness and desirability of continuation of reverse osmosis (RO) purification of groundwater for providing safe drinking water to villages in the groundwater resource-deficient eastern Karnataka, India, have been studied in 15 villages in 4 districts of the state, where high fluoride and uranium contamination has been observed. The results indicate that: (i) except in Chitradurga district, there are an inadequate number of RO facilities; (ii) RO water consumption is far less than the minimum amount recommended for drinking by WHO; (iii) while the benchmark of the best performance for RO membranes is >99%, the RO units in use show an ave­rage fluoride and uranium rejection percentage of 92.6 and 95.1 respectively; and (iv) similar to almost all RO units, the installed ones are also wasting water in the water-deficient eastern Karnataka and discharging concentrate with a higher percentage of contaminants into the environment. Better management of RO units and RO concentrate is required.

Keywords


Contaminants, environmental friendliness, groundwater, reverse osmosis, sustainable rural water supply.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv123%2Fi12%2F1493-1498