Treatment efficiency and filtration rate of a horizontal sand filtration system

The purpose of this study was to establish acceptable criteria for a horizontal sand filtration (HSF) system that are suitable for the design of community water supply units in rural areas. Two laboratory scales of HSF were constructed and tested for their filtration rates and treatment efficiency in Visetchaicharn District of Angthong Province, Thailand. The main structure of both models was the same except for the lengths of the filtration column, i.e., 80 cm. in Model 1 and 100 cm. in Model 2. The results of treatment efficiency of both models were very satisfactory. The physical and chemical quality of the filtered water was within the standards for drinking water except for bacteria quality. The rates of filtration of Model 1 were slightly faster than those of Model 2 for both one and two meters of water level in the raw water column. The rates for both models were higher than the lower limit standards of the slow sand filtration system throughout the study.