Evaluating in-home water purification methods for communities in Texas on the border with Mexico Evaluación de métodos domésticos de purificación de agua para comunidades de Texas fronterizas con México

• Main Authors: Patrick L. Gurian, Gema Camacho, Jun-young Park, Steve R. Cook, Kristina D. Mena
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Spanish; Portuguese
• Published: Pan American Health Organization 2006
• Subjects: Abastecimiento de agua; purificación del agua; satisfacción de los consumidores; Texas; Estados Unidos; Water supply; water purification; consumer satisfaction; United States; Medicine; R; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/dc7e2286981d472fa48473ad9c52cf16

This study evaluated user preferences among three alternative in-home water treatment technologies suitable for households relying on trucked water in El Paso County, Texas, which is on the border with Mexico. The three technologies were: chlorination of household storage tanks, small-scale batch chlorination, and point-of-use ultraviolet disinfection. Fifteen households used each of the three technologies in succession for roughly four weeks each during April through June of 2004. Data were collected on treated water quality, and a face-valid survey was administered orally to assess user satisfaction with the technologies on a variety of attributes. Treatment with a counter-top ultraviolet disinfection system received statistically significantly higher ratings for taste and odor and likelihood of future use than the other two approaches. Ultraviolet disinfection and small-scale batch chlorination both received significantly higher ratings for ease of use than did storage tank chlorination. Over-chlorination was a common problem with both batch chlorination and storage tank chlorination. Water quality in the households using trucked water is now higher than was reported by a previous study, suggesting that water quality has improved over time. Este estudio evaluó las preferencias de los consumidores de tres tecnologías domésticas para el tratamiento del agua, apropiadas para viviendas del condado de El Paso, Texas, situado en la frontera con México, que dependen del agua transportada en camiones. Las tres tecnologías fueron cloración de los tanques domésticos de almacenamiento, cloración de pequeños lotes de agua y desinfección mediante luz ultravioleta en el punto de dispensación. Quince viviendas utilizaron sucesivamente cada una de las tres tecnologías durante aproximadamente cuatro semanas entre abril y junio de 2004. Se registraron los datos sobre la calidad del agua tratada y se realizó una encuesta oral aceptada por los expertos para medir el grado de satisfacción de los usuarios con relación a diversos ...