I did this study to make a scarce thing abundant.

The theme of the research was municipal waste water treatment and the title of the research is Treating
the waste water with cost effective traditional methods in Sri Lanka.

This study was conducted by me.

And honorable panel and my dear colleagues good morning to you all.

I am Dr. E.T.S Madhubhashini

My education background, career and research interests

I completed my

BSc (Hons.) – Fisheries and marine sciences - University of Ruhuna (First class)

MSc – Disaster analysis, management and mitigation – University of Colombo (Merits)

PhD – Environment science and engineering - University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

I am currently working as a Senior lecturer in University of Peradeniya

Most of my research are based on Limnology, Marine science, Fisheries, Aquaculture, Climate change

Importance of the study

It is a very well known point that the usable amount of water on this earth is a very small amount.

Hence it is very important to treat the water and reuse it to overcome the water scarcity that we may
experience in the future with climate change.

So is using loads of chemicals and lots of energy to purify the water sustainable?

Our ancient people knew some traditional methods that can be used to purify the water.

What kind of water purification methods are sustainable?

Those methods had

less impact to the environment.

Have little or no carbon foot print.

Needs less energy and minimal maintenance.

Cost effective.

Accessible by many communities.

Water treatment method

As you can see in this setup there are 4 stages which was run according to the gravitational force.. In the
1st stage the Municipal waste water was sent to a large tank through a screen to Filter the coarse
material. In the tank the wild rice variety called Oryza rufipogon Was cultured in hydroponic manner on
the bamboo rafts. The water can be kept around 2 days in this tank and then it should be filtered
through a Sand bed filter lined with an ecological geo textile. The sand bed filter had few layers of Fine
sand, fine gravel, medium gravel and coarse gravel. On top of the sand bed filter the reed Variety called
Cyperus haspan was cultured. Then the water was sent through a Trunk of Caryota urens in the common
name jaggery palm tree. This water was filled in to a tank which was made up with the clay of termite
mounds and within the tank I had kept the charcoal of Strychnos heterodoxa seed in common name
clearing nuts and the quartz variety called paindi quartz. Once we keep the water within that tank for
around 24 hours the water is ready to drink. Now lets see the scientific background of this setup.

Oryza rufipogon

As I told you, in the first stage the water is kept in a tank that has Oryza rufipogon in hydroponic
manner. Many Scientific studies have already found that Oryza rufipogon has the ability of absorbing the
many heavy metals and nutrients. For an example Tongphanphan et al has found in 2021 that this wild
rice variety is capable of removing the cadmium from water in large quantities. Moreover, Chang et al
has found in 2022 that this rice variety and the associated bacteria have the ability of nitrogen fixation,
manganese oxidation, chemoheterotrophy and iron respiration. So through this step we can remove
many heavy metals and nutrients.

Sand bed filter

Then in the second stage the water is sent through sand bed filter lined with an ecological geotextile.
This geotextile has the high UV resistance, chemical resistance, weather resistance and biological
degradation resistance properties. I don’t think that I have to explain the scientific value of a sand bed
filter. Hammes et al in 2011, Chillinger et al in 2008, Ratnayake et al in 2009 and many studies have
proven that a sand bed filter does not only filter the impurities mechanically but also the microbiota that
can make an ecosystem in the bed filter degrade many impurities and nutrients biologically as well.

Cyperus haspan

To improve the biological process the reed variety called Cyperus haspan was cultured on top of the
sand bed filter. This reed variety is an easily grown one Christopher et al in 2012 have found that the
Cyperus has the ability of balancing the pH, turbidity, color, total soluble solids, Chemical oxygen
demand, biological oxygen demand, ammonia, total phosphate, total nitrogen, iron, magnesium,
manganese, and zinc. Ruslan et al in 2020 has found that Cyperus has the ability of absorbing certain
dyes such as Batik dye. So through this step many nutrients, dyes, solid compounds etcsectra can be
removed from the water mechanically and biologically.
Caryota urens

In the third stage, the water purified through the previous steps was sent through a tube made by
excavating a trunk of Caryota urens tree. Rao et al in 2016, Anbalagan et al in 2016, Rangabhashiyam
and Selvaraju in 2015 and several other studies have proved that Caryota urens seed has the ability of
absorbing Copper, lead, chromium and many phenolic compounds as well. The studies that have been
carried out regarding the trunk of Caryota urens is very low. But, one thing we have to keep in mind is
science has not studied everything yet. There are lots to find in the future. So in the future research, we
can study the ability of waste removal by Caryota trunk in more deeper ways.

Next

In Sri Lanka we use the Caryota flour, leaves, roots and trunk to prepare several dishes, medicines, fiber,
ornaments and many more products. In the study which has been done by Perumpuli et al in 2022, they
have found the Anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and anti-diabetic properties of the
Caryota urens. These are some underutilized valuable material in the world which has several potentials
in the future.

Tank made up with termite mound clay

In the final stage the water was kept in a tank prepared with the clay of termite mounds. In Ayurveda,
Sri Lankan medicine, Chinese medicine and many medicinal methods in the world termite mound clay is
used. In Ayurveda medicine, termite mound clay has been used to cure hydrocele, edema, rheumatoid,
arthritis and many other diseases. Research articles show that termite mounds are frequently enriched
with soluble salts such as ammonium nitrate, exchangeable basic cations such as Ca2+, Mg2+ and K+ and
CaCO3 compared to the adjacent topsoil. This ion exchanging properties provide a good healing power
to the water when we keep water in the tank made up with termite mound clay.

Strychnos heterodoxa

To the tank made up with termite mound clay the charcoal made up with Strychnos heterodoxa seed
was added. The common name of this plant is clearing nut. From its name it self you can understand
that it clears the water. Mohammed et al in 2014 has found that the clearing nut has a coagulation
ability to remove the turbidity and it can balance the pH and COD. Ranaweera et al in 2020 has found
that it can remove cobalt like ions. Moreover in Sri Lankan medicine we not only use it externally to
purify the water but also we use it as a coffee powder to remove excess sugar in the blood and to heal
kidneys.

Paindi quartz/ Maifan-stone

Other than that I put the quartz variety called paindi quartz in to this tank. It is a quartz variety found
close to the reservoirs. Although no scientific study has been done about paindi quartz, there are many
studies have been carried out regarding the Maifan stone in China which is very similar to Paindi quartz.
Guan et al in 2016 and in many studies have found the medicinal properties and the ability of removing
the cadmium like heavy metals by Maifan stones.
Water quality parameters

In this table you can see the water quality parameters before treatment and the parameters after
treatment. I have given the International water quality standards of drinking water. Many of them are
WHO standards and in the ones I could not find the WHO Standards I used the Europian standards.
According to that, the water after the treatment was ready to drink.

What are the alternative material we can use to create this setup?

Now, you may feel that although being accessible to many communities is a characteristic of a
sustainable method, this Method has used many natural plants and material that can be found only in
few countries. But, no need to worry. We don’t have to make it a limitation. There are many other
alternatives we can use instead of the material that has been used in this study to create this setup in
your country. For an example

So the beauty of this method is you can recreate it in your way and it need minimal maintainance, low
energy.

Its eco-friendly and Cost effective. Thank you