Water filter designed to remove iron, biological contamination

Dipender Manta

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi, researchers are designing a water filter to remove iron and biological contamination in Mandi District.

According to the IIT-Mandi experts, water quality reports over multiple years in Mandi District have revealed high levels of iron contamination in many villages that may put residents at risk of negative long-term health effects. 

“Our goal was to create a filtration technology to address the drinking water needs of the residents living within Mandi district. To realise this goal, we assessed drinking water perceptions, behaviours, and water quality in the areas with known concerns regarding water contamination” said Dr Rajnish Sharma. 

He said, “We have designed a filtration device to remove iron and biological contamination. We have created a filter prototype that can be further tested, refined, and potentially implemented in affected areas.”

He said, currently, people within Mandi and Sundernagar area are facing iron and bacterial contamination in their water supply. Certain hand pumps in the area have closed, forcing the residents to find other sources of drinking water or turn to unregulated surface water sources, like rivers, for drinking water. 

“The purpose of our filter is to insure and improve the quality of drinking water to those residents located within Mandi and Sundernagar, as well as neighbouring residents, who may be facing the same issue. We hope to improve the quality of life and health of our stakeholders by providing them clean water by providing a water filter, which relatively has a fast-flow rate, removes iron and bacteria, and improves the taste and colour of the water” he remarked.

He said the effects of chemical contamination are usually not immediately seen or felt, but rather appear after years of exposure. If this issue and threat of chemical contamination is not addressed, the residents of these villages may experience negative health effects in the future due to prolonged exposure to chemicals. 

Professor awarded 

Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, Assistant Professor Doctor Rajanish Giri, has been awarded with Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (IYBA) 2018. He was selected by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology. Dr Giri is selected for his proposed innovative idea on Zika virus capsid folding and inhibitor discovery. Additionally, he has proven expertise on understanding and solving the fundamental problems of protein folding in various structured and intrinsically disordered proteins. Along with the award, Dr Giri also received a research grant, for three years, to delve more insight into the biophysical research on Zika capsid protein system by running well equipped lab and hiring and training qualified people or senior research fellows.

Best paper award 

Mohammad Amir, PhD scholar in the School of Engineering at the IIT-Mandi, has received the Best Paper Award at the Third Asian Joint Symposium on Aerospace Engineering 2018 (AJSAE 2018) held in Gyeong-Ju, Korea, in 2018, hosted by The Society for Aerospace System Engineering (SASE), South Korea.The paper entitled “Influence of micro-structural defects on free vibration response of electrically actuated functionally graded panels” was presented by him.He is working under the guidance of Dr Talha in the area of advanced composite structures.