CONFLUX JOURNAL
2018 ISSUE
Baseline Testing of the Health Effects of the MadiDrop in Limpopo Province, South Africa
Kelly McCain, Amanda Gaylord, Evie Stinger, & Catherine Reynolds
Abstract
Access to clean water remains a pressing need in the rural Limpopo province of South Africa. Low-cost point of-use water purification methods have the potential to greatly improve the health of children in this area. This water purification research conducted was therefore divided into two focuses: first, an analysis of the effect of different water chemistries on the effectiveness of the MadiDrop, a small ceramic disk impregnated with silver nanoparticles that continually disinfects stored water in households. Second was a collection of baseline data and the installation of pointof-use water purification interventions for a two-year long study on the impact of sustained intervention use on human health, specifically the growth of children. The consequent results suggest that the MadiDrop was effective at purifying water, except in situations with high turbidity. Data for the two-year-long study is still being collected
and analyzed.