POTENTIAL USE OF WATERGUARD AS A DISINFECTANT FOR DOMESTIC WATER USE

Abstract

Water Guard which consists of 0.75% sodium hypochlorite (chlorine-based water disinfectant solution) hasbeen identified as an alternative method for treatment of domestic drinking water. The aim of this study wasto investigate the effectiveness of Water Guard in disinfecting drinking water from different sources drawnfrom Kinondoni district, Dar es Salaam as well as to establish appropriate dosage that can be used duringthe treatment. Results showed that, a dose of 4.0mL per 20 litrer of water guard is sufficient for disinfectionof urban water sources. The above prescribed doses provide 100% disinfection efficiency with residuechlorine of less than 0.3mg/l. Water with turbidity values of 30-35 NTU, chlorine dosage of 8mL/20 litres isrecommended and this gives residue chlorine of 0.3 €“ 0.5 mg/L. From this study, it can be concluded that,Water guard is effective against pathogen and that there is an increase of residue chlorine as the dosageincreases irrespective of from which source the water was drawn. Also the safety of water is obtained evenwhere the residual chlorine is less that 0.1mg/l. However, there are health implications associated with theuse of Water Guard which need further research