S Luby|Mubina Agboatwalla|Abida Raza|Jeremy Sobel|Eric D. Mintz|K. Baier|Mohammad H. Rahbar|Shahida Qureshi|Rumsha Hassan|F Ghouri|Robert M. Hoekstra|Eugene J. Gangarosa
A low-cost intervention for cleaner drinking water in Karachi, Pakistan
Aga Khan University
pilot test inexpensive homebased water decontamination storage system lowincome neighborhood karachififty households received 20l plastic water storage vessel highquality spout regular supply diluted hypochlorite solution twentyfive control households recruited water samples collected baseline unannounced followup visits 1 3 6 10 weeks laterbaseline drinking water samples among intervention households contaminated mean 9397 colonyforming units cfu100 ml thermotolerant coliforms compared mean 10990 cfu100 ml controls intervention mean concentration thermotolerant coliforms decreased 998 among intervention households compared 8 reduction among controls two years vessel distribution 34 68 families still using vessel thirteen households stopped using vessel broken 6 months use pattern consistent ultraviolet radiationinduced degradation plasticin highly contaminated environment specifically designed water storage container inhome water chlorination acceptable markedly improved water quality plastic water vessels exposed substantial sunlight ultraviolet light stabilizers incorporated plastic