An increase of pathogenic bacteria (E. coli) in river water is a concern as it is the main precursor to health hazard disinfection in conventional drinking water treatment systems. Riverbank filtration (RBF) is a non-chemical techniques and natural treatments that efficient in reducing or removing the contaminants in the water. Therefore, this study aimed to remove Escherichia coli (E. coli), and reduce the concentration with low-frequency electromagnetic fields (LF-EMF) as a component of the non-ionising radiations in RBF. This research design and construct a LF-EMF device on horizontal coiled columns that were capable of producing uniform magnetic fields in the frequency range of 50 Hz. A magnetic field density was varied at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 mT. The diameter of column was 50 mm, which underwent 6 hours of LF-EMF exposure at 50 mL/min of water flowrates. The maximum removal efficiency of E. coli in was 100% at 6, 8, and 10 mT of magnetic field exposure. These results indicated that the E. coli in the sample of water that was exposed to the LF-EMF was statistically significantly decreased. The magnetic intensity of the LF-EMF changed the characteristic responses for E. coli bacteria.
Part of the book: Water and Wastewater Treatment
Water security in the water treatment plant has been doubted, and the treatment process may have given unreliable and unsafe water to the public. A newspaper reported on November 19, 2011, that laboratory tests on water samples in Kelantan for each year by the Ministry of Health have found harmful bacteria including Escherichia coli (E. coli) in the water samples. More worryingly, it was stated in a study that chlorine in water treated with high chlorine can be harmful to human health. In 2010, Malaysia has begun to approach a natural treatment technique, namely, riverbank filtration (RBF), and firstly used it at the Water Treatment Plant in Jeli, Kelantan, and Kuala Kangsar, Perak. RBF limitation is the invisible groundwater flow that makes it difficult to predict the transport of contaminants. Managing groundwater is important to ensure that water is aligned in compliance with government legislation and environmental protection. Due to that, this study suggests an implementation of an artificial barrier for microorganism in RBF to sustain the good water quality abstracted from the abstraction well. This pretreatment or purifying method is to improve the effectiveness of RBF in removing pollutants during shock loads and reduce the load placed in the water treatment process.
Part of the book: New Insight into Brucella Infection and Foodborne Diseases