Use of Exudated Gum Produced by Samanea Saman in the Potabilization of the Water

Abstract

For the clarification of drinking water aluminium sulphate is used to remove colloids and organic substances to improve the water quality. High concentrations of residual aluminium in the drinkable water can have implications on human health, thus, it is necessary to develop alternative environmentally acceptable coagulants. The exudates gums from Samanea saman were studied as natural coagulants, establishing optimum dose according to the jar test and determining parameters such as: turbidity, colour, pH, total, alkalinity, MPN and heterotrophic count; using synthetic turbid water inoculated with pure culture of E. Coli and coagulant solution on the volume range of 50 to 500 mg/L. The initial turbidity used was between 10 to 100 NTU. The optimum coagulant dose was found to be between 10 to 25 mg/L, with significant reduction of turbidity and colour, i, e,: 1 NTU for turbidity and 5 U for colour. The pH and total alkalinity did not present significant variations. On the other hand, for fecal coliforms a significant removal of 99.7%, and for total coliforms (99.8%) was found. And finally, the heterotrophic count was observed with 0 UFC. The parameters evaluated using the exudates gum from Samanea saman, comply with the standard established to guarantee the quality of water for human consumption, showing the efficiency of this natural coagulant