Sachet-type point-of-use (POU) water treatment product comparison for emergencies

Point-of-use (POU) water treatment and safe storage techniques are effective in improving microbial water quality and decreasing diarrhoeal disease incidence and have potential to be effective interventions in humanitarian emergency contexts. Coagulant/disinfection products (CDPs) can provide microbial quality improvement, turbidity reductions, and a protective post-treatment free chlorine residual. The objective of this study was to compare the treatment performance of 4 commercially-available CDPs with regards to humanitarian water treatment objectives. This is the first comparison of its kind it was demonstrated the (at times significant) inter- and intra-variability of CDP treatment performance between products and with regards to varying water quality, respectively. It is recommended that implementing agencies should conduct field testing for context specific assessments of product performance and acceptability by beneficiaries. Knowledge of product formulation can also help in evaluating its treatment potential.