Even in 2020, not all households in Sabah have access to clean water for daily use. It has become a major drawback for the community especially in rural areas to carry out their daily lives. Clean water plays an important role as a basic need for our daily lives.

For some rural areas in Sabah, communities are struggling to attain reliable clean water supply. It was reported by Director of the State Water Department Amarjit Singh that overall water storage levels at major dams in Sandakan, Kudat, Penampang, Tamparuli, Semporna and Lahad Datu are relatively high, however, dams water reserves are not replenished with depleted rivers at critical levels despite the ongoing heatwave and this will affect societies which relies on these as their main source of water.

Mr Amarjit said villagers still have access to alternate water source in similarly hard-hit Keningau; while in Bingkor residents will be sent tankers to supply them with much needed water. This hotfix solution will not remedy underlying problem of lack of clean water supply. With recent development and rapid urbanisation, water sources from river and rain may not be as clean as back then, this can endanger health as river water may contain harmful microorganisms or contaminated with pesticide and herbicide from farming/ plantation.

Hence, we aim to provide simple basic physical treatment of water filtration embedded within water storage among communities to fulfil the demands. This can improve the access and quality of water supply and improve sanitation quality to enable the community to live a better life. Therefore, the villagers will have a safe and sustainable water supply thus avoiding health problems as well as improving their quality of living which we aim to eventually transfer the operation and maintenance knowledge for continuous function of installed treatment system.

Technology Background

The effectiveness of bio-char usage in wastewater treatment has been discussed in several studies. Char-filter absorbers have been practically used over the years for its low cost, locally managed and decentralized treatment technologies made it a sustainable treatment option for rural households to achieve this harmonization with treatment trains in modern drinking water plants (Kearns J et al., 2015).

Biochar was produced from moisture-free, finely ground feedstocks and pyrolyzed under highly controlled laboratory conditions (Kearns JP et al., 2019). Biochar can be obtained by purchasing charcoal from either local shops or ordered online and cleaned it few times. Besides, the usage of biochar was proposed instead of other media due to its distinctive characteristics which include adsorption capacity, ion exchange capacity, micro porosity and specific surface area.

The installation of this filter tank includes three filtration mechanisms and treated water storage for each barrel namely gravel roughing pre-filter, slow sand biofilter and biochar adsorbent. Gravel roughing pre-filter acts to remove sediments, gritty organic matter and some microorganisms and requires monthly backwashing in order to flush out accumulated sediments and solids. Next, slow sand biofilter is responsible to eliminate fine particles, biodegradable dissolved organic matter and microbial 

pathogens and requires filter harrowing in order to maintain the design flow rate. Moreover, biochar adsorbent accounts for organic & chemical contaminants discharge and require biochar replacement in 3 years cycle to maintain quality of water.

In addition, the installation of biochar water filter was first designed in South-East-Asia countries and one of them was implemented in Thai-Burma border serving a boarding school for ethnic Karen migrant/refugee children. The system costs about $125to construct and can be assembled with minimal hand tools besides providing years of service with periodic maintenance of the water filter (Kearns J., 2012). This water filter used to treat water for direct drinking and serve other facilities. Researches in Africa also working together towards development of technology and implementation of biochar based water filter in Africa (Gwenzi, Willis, 2018).

• To address water safety issues and significance of having clean water for daily life and utilize rainwater as an effective source of water
• To apply small-scale rainwater harvesting for community to prevent potential depletion of water storage especially in drought season.
• To install simple water filter to households or domestic users in achieving equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.
• To transfer knowledge and engage with community in operating and maintaining treatment system

We will discuss with the representative as well as the local community group on mechanism of simple water filtration system.  When properly handled, rainwater is possible for human use after filtration. As environmentally aware leaders who encourage environmental protection in others, this movement is a positive approach for every person in the society. Our project is primarily aimed at the community leaders / parents and youth of Kg Binaung Baru, Menggatal. And it involves four main activities.

ACTIVITY 1

Preparations and Introduction of the project

The materials will be gathered before project commencement on site. On the other hand, a custom-made pyro chamber is required as well for charcoal production. Our proposed site is Kg Binaung Baru, Menggatal. The community will be informed on the possible induction of water filter in their to possibly recruit help and educate at the same time. Source of water to be filtered will be specifically gravity water and rainwater however any type of water can be applied on except saltwater and water high in lime content.

ACTIVITY 2

Meet & Greet and Simple Briefing

Upon arrival, we hope to get familiar with the local community and brief them on what are we going to execute here.

ACTIVITY 3

On site installation of water filter and knowledge hand-over

Then, we will start charcoal production as part of sustainability in the filter. The local community will be able to grasp the concept along the installation. The installation may take a few days up to a week in order to ensure proper functioning.

ACTIVITY 4

Continuous Monitoring of Water Quality

After installation, we will mainly monitor the filtered water quality to show improvements in terms of water content before and after filtration. This will mainly take multiple trips of short hours that can be done in a day.

• We will be able to compare the performance of biochar water filter system against previous case studies for improvement.

• We will be able to transfer knowledge to community on how the water filter system works and eventually let the community to take over maintenance.
• Increase the awareness among society regarding the importance of sustainable habit such as rainwater harvesting and how to improve them.
• We can prevent the need for villagers to travel far distance to obtain clean water and help to improve the living condition of the local community through supporting low income family. According to Josh Kearns (2012), the water filter system can provide 300litre/ day which is enough to meet minimum daily drinking water requirements for 100 people. The statement applies to a previous case study in Thailand which serves a boarding school for refugee children at Thai-Burma border.