ABSTRACT
Water is vital part for existence of life and when it comes to drinking water, it should be safe in terms of water borne diseases. In developing countries diarrhoea is major concern for which pathogens in water are responsible. Pathogens enter into water distribution system and groundwater due to various anthropogenic activities even after treatment. In water treatment plant chlorine is commonly used as disinfection agent which is carcinogenic in nature. To prevent pathogens, economic and effective treatment at point of use is required. As per ancient Indian culture and Ayurveda, storing of water in copper vessel prior to consumption provides many health benefits. The brief study was conducted on copper vessels to find out surface area required with respect to optimum time to reach WHO limit of zero E-coli. Physio-chemical parameters such as pH, turbidity, total dissolved solids (TDS), alkalinity, hardness and e-coli concentration were measured at regular time interval before and after storing of water in copper vessel. The bacterial E-coli count was performed using spread plate method and copper concentration was measured using ICP-MS instrument. There was not significant change in water parameters after storage. It was found that E-Coli concentration is mainly responsible for the rate of leaching of copper particles in water. Copper vessel which is having surface area of 640cm2/litre has achieved 6 log reduction in 7 hours. Further increase in surface area does not cause any reduction in time of disinfection.
