D.I.Y.

RAINWATER FILTER DISPENSER

A Science Research Project

Presented to
The Basic Education Department High School
Colegio de San Juan de Letran-Calamba

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for
Elective Science G10: Science Research G10

By

Beatrice Manuel
Jan Mhel Odal
Raniela Braza
Jhasmin Tonelada
Lauro Calibo

A.Y. 2017 – 2018

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 CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

On the number of 101 million Filipinos, 9 million of the Filipino population rely on
unsafe and unsustainable water sources. 19 million lack access in clear drinking water.
Thus, 75 percent of surveyed Filipinos expressed interest in water and sanitation loan.
Now, it is shown that there is demand in clean water and sanitation in the Philippines.
Rainwater is the water supply for much of the world’s population. However,
pollution, pollen, mold, and other contaminants are present. Rain does pick up low levels
of bacteria and dust or chemicals from the atmosphere. However, the level of the bacteria
is low. And somehow, can be treated by boiling and filtration.

As boiling kills pathogens, filtration removes chemicals, dust, pollen, mold and
other contaminants. It removes impurities by minimizing contamination of water using a
fine physical barrier, a chemical process, or a biological process. Acidic rain—most
rainwater is naturally acidic, with an average pH around 5.6, from the interaction between
water and carbon dioxide in the air. Moreover, this is not dangerous. More so, as studied,
the researchers discovers home water filtration pitcher is in demand in the market.
However, not all are able to buy this and provide themselves a clean drinking water and
come up with the DIY or homemade rain water filter dispenser.

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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In order to address one of the Philippines problem which is lack of drinking water,
the researchers come up with a device that will filter the rainwater to make it potable.

Specifically, this aims to answer the following questions:

1. Is there any significant difference in the effectivity in filtering rainwater between

the DIY rainwater filter dispenser and the home water filter pitcher?
2. Is the DIY rainwater filter water result potable after undergoing the device’s bio-
filter?

HYPOTHESIS

Null Hypothesis

1. There is no significant difference in the effectivity of filtering rainwater

between the DIY rainwater filter dispenser and the home water filter pitcher.
2. The DIY rainwater filter water result is not potable.

Alternative Hypothesis

1. There is a significant difference in the effectivity of filtering rainwater

between the DIY rainwater filter dispenser and the home water filter pitcher.
2. The DIY rainwater filter dispenser water result is potable.

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Research Framework

INPUT PROCESS

 Related studies  Making of the

of rainwater prototype.
collection and  Testing the
filtration process. prototype.
 Materials that  Filtering the
will be using for rainwater
filtering. collected.
 Rainwater  Undergoing
 Materials to be Philippine
used as a National
dispenser. Standards of
Drinking Water
or PNDSW of
2017 for water
testing.

OUTPUT

 A DIY rainwater filter dispenser.

 Safe and potable water.

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 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents the related literatures and studies about water purification
and filtration, both from local and foreign resources.

Water Filtration/Purification
A water filter is the process of removing impurities by minimizing contamination of
water using a fine physical barrier, a chemical process, or a biological process.
Substances that are removed during the process include parasites, bacteria, algae,
viruses, fungi, minerals, and man-made chemical pollutants.
According to Thanh, N. and Hettiaratchi, J. (1982), a common meaning of clean
water is that the water is free of unwanted substances that can harm physical health.
Pathogenic organisms, toxic substances, color, turbidity, taste and odor, and an
acceptable level of minerals and organic material are the unwanted substances in the
water. In addition, Ambashta, R. and Sillanpaa, M. (2010) states that the major source for
survival on this planet is water. Therefore, its conservation is a priority. Due to its
increasing demand, the supply should meet specific standards. Several purification
techniques have been used to meet the specific standards. Magnetic separation is one
of the purification techniques that has been adopted from ore mining industries, though
no reviews have come up in recent years about the water purification technique with the
usage of magnetic assistance.
Water purification or filtration plays an important role in human life. It keeps our
water clean and drinkable. According to Gil, E. and Passino, K. (2004), purification of
drinking water is easily achieved by adding disinfectants in the water. Chlorine is the most
popular disinfectant used in cleansing drinking water because it can destroy large
numbers of pathogens while having a cheap price. The purification of drinking water has
several stages of treatment to remove the unwanted suspended solids, colour, and
bacteria before distributing to the people. Clarification, disinfection, pH adjustment,
filtration, and the removal of taste and odour are part of the stages of treatment.

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 In contradiction, Porcelli, N. and Judd, S. (2009) stated that cleansing water in use
of chemicals is still poorly understood and not extensively investigated, contradicting the
thousand published studies about the area of water membranes. They proposed that a
chemical cleaning index should be used, analogous to the recently proposed general
membrane fouling index, based on empirical data to let the cleaning protocols be informed
for specific duties and feed water quality.
The filtration of drinking water involves several methods for the treatment.
Distillation, Carbon Adsorption, Reverse Osmosis and other processes to remove
unwanted substances in the water are part of the methods for treatment. Distillation is the
common and probably the oldest method of water purification. First, water is heated to
boiling temperature. Then the vapor of the water rises to a condenser where cooling water
lowers the temperature so the vapor is condensed, collected and stored. Carbon
Adsorption is an overall or widely used method in home water filter treatment because of
its ability for water improvement by the removal of disagreeable tastes and odours,
specifically including objectionable chlorine. Reverse Osmosis is the far most economical
method for the removal of 90% to 99% of water contaminants.

Bio Filter
According to Water Purification (2017), the bio-filter is a filter in which on the
surface of the filter material develops biological films (biofilms) consisting of bacteria
which feed with certain pollutants from the water. Bio-filter is commonly used to filtering
ponds, concluding that it is generally an effective way of filtering contaminated water,
including rain water. Bio-filters are designed to take away pathogens from recycled
solution by the use of filtration and by exposing these pathogens for some period of time
in unfavorable conditions to reduce their viable population.

Clean Water
The Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water (PNSDW) of 2017 is
applicable to every drinking-water service providers including private developers and
government and operators, bulk water suppliers, water vending machine operators, water
refilling station operators, and ice manufacturers. It shall also be applied to the general

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public and all others involved in determining the safeness of public’s drinking water. To
ensure the safeness of the drinking water, there are seven guidelines that must be
followed. It includes: measuring the quality, water sampling and examination, other
modes of distribution of drinking-water, evaluation of results, classification of quality
parameters, quality assurance/quality control for water laboratories, and water safety plan
and quality surveillance (Department of Health [DOH], 2017).
Some government and non-government agencies agreed to implement this policy
whereas each has a defined role to play in this process. “Water is a basic necessity in
life. Defining the standards and procedures to determine the safeness of drinking water
is certainly crucial. Thus, the DOH is proud to present this document which outlines the
National Standards for Drinking Water of 2017. Truly, I must say that water is life so we
have to protect, conserve and put so much importance in it in the course of our everyday
living,” (Duque III, n.d.)

Rainwater harvesting
Rainwater harvesting is a technique used to collect, store and use rainwater for
landscape irrigation and other uses. This ancient practice is being popular due to interest
in reducing the consumption of potable water and the built-in qualities of rainwater. There
are rainwater systems that come in all shapes and sizes, from basic catchment system
under a downspout to large above or underground cisterns with complex filtration systems
that can store thousands of gallons of rainwater. These are some examples of rainwater
systems: Catchment surface, Gutters and downspout, Leaf screens, Roof washer,
Storage Tanks, Delivery systems, Purification/treatment system. All of these are
comprised of the same basic components. (Waterfall, n.d.)

Synthesis of the Art

All the related studies found about the rainwater filtration are about the cleansing
of water by the use of different kinds of components, such as chemicals, and the usage
of different methods and techniques to cleanse the water to drinkable stage, and the
qualifications of clean water. Some of the studies have different kinds of interpretation by
the use of chemicals to cleanse the water such as contradicting one’s study and adding

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resources to one. However, some studies have shown the importance of clean water.
This chapter concludes that every related study about cleansing water should be
analyzed in order to have drinkable water in the near future.

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 CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This part discusses the materials, the procedures to make the alternative water
dispenser and purification.

Research Materials
 1 pc of empty Pringles Can with Lid
 1 small piece of cloth
 1 pc of empty Nutella jar
 1 empty toothpaste tube
 1 drinking straw
 ½ kilogram Gravel
 ½ kilogram Sand
 ½ kilogram Activated charcoal

Procedure:
(Process in making the dispenser)
1. Get the pringles can and empty toothpaste tube.
2. Place the empty toothpaste tube on the empty can.
3. Then trace the empty tube using a pencil.
4. Using a sharp scissor or cutter, cut through to make a hole.
5. Below the hole (4cm), trace a curved line and cut through downwards until it
reaches the bottom using a knife.
6. Using a vinyl wrap, cover the whole can.
7. Using a sharp instrument, cut through the previous hole.
8. Gather the empty toothpaste tube and cut below the empty tube.
9. Make sure to wash the tube. Then vertically make 5 cuts in between each cut.
10. Bend it upwards making it look like a flower.
11. With the hot glue gun, glue each cut and place it at the circular hole.
12. Mark the center of the Nutella cap using a pencil.
13. Place 2 circles (5mm diameter) above the cap using a pencil and with a sharp
material cut through.
14. Bend the straw and put it inside the first hole.

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15. Then put the activated charcoal inside the empty can.
16. After putting the activated charcoal, pour the sand on the top of the activated
charcoal.
17. Lastly, pour the gravel making it the top most layer.
18. Get the lid and make a hole in the middle.
19. Cover the hole with a piece of cloth using glue.
20. Glue the lid inside the can, covering the bio-filter created.
21. Then turn it upside down carefully before gluing the straw and the corners of
the can.
22. Make sure to stick the Nutella cap properly.
23. Just around the opening of the tube, glue it wholesomely and cut the excess
straw hanging.
24. And for the last step, glue the cap around circularly.

Experimentation:

1. Collect some rain water.

2. Put the collected rain water in the dispenser.
3. Then, let the bio-filter purify the rainwater.
4. The first layer, gravel, is there to remove large pieces of debris from the water.
This would include things like small sticks, leaves, and bugs.
5. The water then moves on to the sand layer, which removes smaller particulate
matter that managed to pass through the gravel.
6. Finally, the water passes through a layer of activated charcoal to remove
bacteria and some chemicals.
7. Once the rain water is already clean, you can now get the filtered water directly
from the dispenser.
8. The result water will be tested in the DOH Philippine National Standards for
Drinking Water or PNSDW of 2017 to see if it is potable.

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Bibliography
Thanh, N.C., Hettiaratchi, J.P.A (1982). Surface Water Filtration for Rural Areas:
Guidelines for Design, Construction, and Maintenance, Environmental Sanitation
Information Centre, Bangkok, Thailand.
Ambashta, R. & Sillanpaa, M. (2010). Water purification using magnetic assistance: A
review. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389410005510#!.
(Accessed, Nov. 12, 2017)
Gil, E. & Passino, K. (2004). Literature Review of Feedback Control for Drinking Water
Purification. http://www2.ece.ohio-state.edu/~passino/waterpur.pdf. (Accessed, Oct. 1,
2017)
Porcelli, N. and Judd, S. (2009). Chemical cleaning of potable water membranes: A
review. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1383586609005036.
(Accessed, Nov. 12, 2017)
APEC WATER (1997). Water Quality. http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water-
education/quality-water-filtration-method.htm. (Accessed, Oct. 1, 2017)
Science Direct (2018), Biofilter. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-
biological-sciences/biofilter. (Accessed, Jan. 26, 2018)
GOVPH (2017), DOH LAUNCHES PHILIPPINE NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR
DRINKING WATER OF 2017. http://www.doh.gov.ph/node/12121. (Accessed, Jan. 29,
2018)
ScienceDaily (2017), Water purification.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/water_purification.htm. (Accessed, Oct. 1, 2017)
San Diego (2002), Rainwater Harvesting Information.
https://www.sandiego.gov/water/conservation/rainwater. (Accessed, Jan. 29, 2018)

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