Abstract
Drinking water available to rural communities in many developing countries contains disease germs. Solar disinfection of water is becoming increasingly appreciated because of the feasibility of its application. This study investigated the level of transmission of ultraviolet light by bottles made of glass, poly vinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethlene terephthalate (PET) in relation to their ability to disinfect water samples in them; two brands of PET bottles, Ragolis and Voltic, were used. Ragolis bottle was the best both in ultraviolet light transmission and microbial inactivation. There was no microbial re-growth during 11 weeks storage of solar–treated water. Rural dwellers in Nigeria have easy access to large quantities of used PET bottles and can use the 1.5 L size to produce solar-disinfected water for drinking.
Key words: Rural water, solar disinfection, exposure time, turbidity, bacterial re-growth.
