Nora Abbott, Ann Foley & Sean Brown

Many developing countries lack the resources to purify drinking water effectively and on a full scale. As a result, people turn to technologies like the biosand filter (BSF) to produce potable water. The effective sand size (ES) and sand size distribution (represented by the uniformity coefficient, UC) used in the BSF are recognized as critical parameters in the optimal performance of the filters. The ES and the UC are calculated from a sand size distribution curve, which is generated by sieving a sand sample of known mass and recording the mass of sand that accumulates on sieves of different sizes. Because access to a laboratory balance can be a challenge when constructing a BSF in a developing region, the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) has developed a field protocol for measuring the ES and UC using portable field sieves and a sand size distribution curve based on the volume (rather than mass) of sand captured on each sieve. This study compares the sand grain distribution data obtained with the conventional mass-based grain size distributions to the data obtained with the field-adapted volume-based grain size distributions for five different sand samples. To assess the performance of pilot-scale BSF columns constructed with the five samples, daily testing of flow rates and turbidity removal, and weekly testing of Escherichia coli removal, were performed. The columns that removed the most turbidity and E. coli were made with sand that did not meet the recommended criteria for ES and/or UC.

Nora Abbott is a sophomore environmental engineering major and global studies minor. She joined Professor Kristen Jellison’s laboratory during the spring of 2019 and began the current bios and filtration research project as a STEPS-EI Summer 2020 Research Fellow. She aspires to complete a master’s degree in environmental engineering, and use her education and experiences to provide clean drinking water through the use of alternative, low-cost water treatment methods to those who cannot afford to do so without assistance. Outside of research, Nora is the community coordinator of the Fit Living housing community and is the president-elect of the Women’s Ultimate Frisbee team. Through her extracurricular activities, she promotes the mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing of her friends and peers.

Sean Brown is a junior environmental engineering major. His research studies on the use of biosand filters in developing countries. He conducts this research with other undergraduates in Professor Kristen Jellison’s lab. He is passionate about this research because it addresses the lack of everyday needs in some countries, and emphasizes the need acknowledge it underdeveloped areas. In the future, he hopes to pursue a career in sustainable design, and the development of green infrastructure. Outside of academia, he is also a member of the varsity Cross Country and Track & Field teams. Running is one of his greatest passions and it has molded him into who he is today.

Ann Foley is a junior in the IDEAS program, with focuses in Environmental Engineering and Earth and Environmental Science. Ann Foley began working in Professor Jellison’s laboratory in August, 2019 and is on the Biosand Filter research team. This is an area of interest for Ann because access to potable water is a relevant issue that affects many people around the world. She enjoys working hands-on in the laboratory outside a normal classroom/lab setting, and hopes to deepen her collaborative, critical thinking, and data analysis skills. In her free time, Ann is a member of the Lehigh Swimming and Diving team, and was selected this season as a team captain. In addition to swimming, she also enjoys hiking, snowboarding, and reading.