Household Filter to Remove Iron and

Nitrate for Drinking Water

Visi Asriningtyas*, Luis Villacreces**, Sri Puji Saraswati***
*IWA, Environmental Science Graduate Freelancer, Indonesia
**Environmental Laboratory, EP Petroecuador, Ecuador
***Environmental and Sanitation Laboratory, Civil and Environmental
Engineering Department, UGM, Jl. Grafika no.2, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
ABSTRACT
The research of household filtration took place in a dwelling area of Minomartani, Sleman Regency,
Special District of Yogyakarta (DIY), Indonesia which has iron excess in groundwater used for drinking
water. Nitrate is also prevalent especially in regions where family husbandries surround the wells for
drinking water in the dwelling areas. Therefore there are research in this area to overcome this problem
for a healthier drinking water to alleviate groundwater quality for human consumption. High Iron is
prevalent in Sleman groundwater, DIY (Special District of Yogyakarta), Indonesia, as the geologic
materials are olivine, basalt, augite-hypersthene-hornblende andesite at the northern part and augite-
hypersthene andesite with hornblende subordinate at the most part of the area. The aquifer in general is
also compared with thus of Ecuador.
The experiments using charcoal and sand as the main material for removal of Iron and nitrate in
drinking water for small communities in Sleman, DIY, Indonesia has been conducted in year 2005 to
2006. Afterwards, the filter is elaborated for more practical use for drinking water which contains Iron
and also nitrate from wells. The results of the use of these filters are fine, proved from a house in
Minomartani, Sleman, Indonesia, with no more Iron and nitrate excess. Nitrate contains becomes less
than 1 mg/l and total Iron does not exceed 0.3 mg/l. The color of water becomes neutral and odorless, if
maintained at least once a month by brushing and washing the charcoal (activated carbon) filter and the
polypropylene or Cartridge Carbon Filter.
Keywords Iron removal, nitrate removal, groundwater quality, household filter
INTRODUCTION
Sleman regency in DIY (Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta or Special District of Yogyakarta), Indonesia is an
area which has excess in Iron in the natural groundwater. The area of research lies between 73730"
74730" S and 1102400" 1102630" E. Annual average rainfall during ten years is around 2106 mm
to 2526 mm, while the annual average temperature is around 23.34C to 27.7C. Groundwater
temperature is 26C at the time of measurement in February 2013. Merapi Aquifer, Special Province of
Yogyakarta (DIY), Indonesia, is one of the best source of potable water in DIY (Asriningtyas and Putra,
2006). Sudarmadji (1994) also stated that the south slope of Merapi active mountain is functioned as an
aquifer system, which is the Sleman-Yogyakarta Formation.
2 Household Filter to Remove Iron and Nitrate for Drinking Water
Sutikno (1996) mentioned that there are three spring belts and three groundwater regimes viewed by
geomorphological and geological characteristics of Merapi volcano landscape. The upper part is the
recharge area, the middle part is the storage area, and the lower part is the discharge area.
Compared to Quito aquifer in Ecuador, Merapi Aquifer in Sleman, Indonesia has greater quantity of
water with discharge per well of around 30 l/s, yet higher in Iron contain in some part of Sleman area
(more than 0.50 mg/l) in water from deep wells. In Ecuador, the total discharge from 30 groundwater
operating wells is around 600 l/s (thus around 20 l/s per well) in the Andean regions, which
approximately 250 thousands of its inhabitants rely on groundwater for drinking water. This region has
average nitrate contain of 3.0 mg/l (Reyno, 2013). Iron is found in an average of 0.43 mg/l and 1.9 mg/l
for nitrate in the region. (Narvez, 2010). Very few wells have been drilled in the region of the East due
to abundant supply of surface water (Buckalew, et al., 1998). Values of 0.58 mg/l for Iron and 6.5 mg/l
for nitrate (Posligua, et al., 2013) are reported in Muisne Esmeraldas. The example of the drilled well
in Riobamba, Ecuador is shown in Figure 1 (in the farmost right).
METHODOLOGY
Previous studies have been conducted in year 2005 to 2006 in the research area of Sembung
subwatershed, Merapi aquifer, Sleman, Indonesia. There have been 8 dug wells examined for the water
quality, including the Iron and nitrate contains. PDAM (Perusahaan Daerah Air Minum or the
Government Regional Drinking Water Industry) in Merapi aquifer has also examined the Iron and
Manganese contain, and has analysed the database together with the Environmental and Sanitation
Laboratory, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, UGM in year 1999 to year 2000. After
year 2001, the database were collected and simulations have been done with GMS (Groundwater
Modeling System) until 2003 (Asriningtyas and Putra, 2006). The deep well Iron contain was high (some
exceeded 0.5 mg/l), and was pre-treated in a drinking water plant in Bedog area, Sleman, with almost the
same filtering as the small household filter in this paper, except for the zeolith component which is not
used in the household filter. The single data as a sample used in a well in Minomartani was measured in
Hydrology and Water Quality Laboratory, UGM, Indonesia for 2 times of measurements, with Standard
Method procedure for this paper. This data showed the elimination of Iron contain and reduction of
nitrate contain after passing the household filter. The data was taken in February 2013.


Figure 1 from left to right: The household filter experiment in 2005-2006, in Sleman; The household filter
installed in Sleman, in 2013; a well in Riobamba.
In some other parts of the world, other methode of measurements and analysis have been conducted,
as in Bangladesh with Iron concentration measured using a field-based colorimetric kit, then mapped in
the area (Merill, et al., 2010). In this short paper, the measurement method has been described in the
above paragraph, using accurate Standard Method in the Laboratory, yet in the future research, a kit from
EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) for immediate measurement in the field is being purposed for a
comparison. The household filter used in Minomartani, Sleman is fabricated by Penguin, Ltd., using
Book Title 3
mostly polypropylene or Cartridge Carbon Filter. Some have been modified locally to accommodate the
elimination of Iron contain, with charcoal and sand paste. The old device is shown in Figure 1on the
farmost left, while the fabricated device is shown in Figure 1 (in the middle). The result will be discussed
in the next section, and further purposed analysis is the behavior of the inlet and the outlet of water
passing through the device.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The results in this short paper is the Iron and nitrate reduced by passing water through the household
filter, which are nitrate contain become less than 1 mg/l and total Iron contain do not exceed 0.3 mg/l.
More complete figures and tables can be seen in the poster section depicted apart from this short paper.
In the previous research in Sleman, Iron contain for drilled wells are some higher than 0.5 mg/l while
in dug wells they range only from 0.06 mg/l to 0.2 mg/l. Nitrate contain in drilled wells are not
detectable while in dug wells they are mostly high in concentration, ranging from 2.8 to 20.6 mg/l. These
high nitrate contains need filtration, and treatment technologies has been made throughout the world, for
example The BioSand Filter (Murphy, et al., 2010) and Hom ceramic filter (Omedi, et al., 2010). In this
research in Sleman, Indonesia, charcoal-sand-paste and polypropylene household filter are used. Next,
more systematic government and public involvement is needed, such as in some other parts of the world
(Franks, et al., 2013; Swan and Cooper, 2013) for a better public facility for safe drinking water.
Detailed data for long research and simulations will be a further benefit when funds are available
(Aubert, et al., 2013; Fleischmann, et al., 2002), while in developing countries where database are
mostly scarce, some estimation can be used in some simulations prior to available more complete
database (Langergreber, et al., 2008; Asriningtyas, et al., 2005). Results of simulations in the aquifer
(Asriningtyas and Putra 2006) showed that there is an urbanization problem to the north (Sleman area);
multidisciplinary study, such as in Environmental Engineering program, besides physical and human
geography is needed. Better onsite observations and external sources such as the climatic parameters and
also population data at certain location and landuse type at certain location are needed, both over a
certain time frame together with the water quality data (Iron and nitrate) of the area, to understand better
the behavior of Iron and nitrate reduction, for a safer drinking water.
CONCLUSIONS
The conclusions of this short paper are:
(1) Water from shallow wells (dug wells) are usually having quite low Iron contain with high nitrate
contain in Sembung subwatershed Sleman area, especially in the dense rural area, where agriculture,
family husbandries and dwellings are the most landuse types.
(2) Water from deep wells (drilled wells of more than 15 m in the multilayer Merapi aquifer, Sleman) or
wells commonly drilled by the government regional drinking water industry (PDAM: Perusahaan
Daerah Air Minum) usually have high Iron contain.
(3) The household filter used in this paper, which is easily installed for small community use in each
dwelling from its water tower, is good for reducing both Iron and nitrate contain in water, with
regular maintenance at least once a month for the sample well in Minomartani, Sleman.

4 Household Filter to Remove Iron and Nitrate for Drinking Water
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge Faisal Buchari for some of the unpublished database, Penguin Ltd. for
providing simple household filter for public use, and the team of infield filter maintenance: Munawir
and Abdul Aziz.
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