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A possibility to combat the intake of poor quality drinking water by Nigerians using a locally fabricated solar water distillation kit

Jude O. Ozuomba, Callistus C. Edebeatu, Felicia M. Opara, Maureen C. Udoye and Ngozi A. Okonkwo

Nigeria is blessed with abundant solar energy and potable water shortage is one of her major challenges. A rooftype solar water distillation (RSWD) system was fabricated from local materials and tested under actual environmental conditions of Urualla, an ancient town in the Eastern part of Nigeria. The system includes four major components; a rectangular wooden basin, an absorber surface, a glass roof and a condensate channel. The RSWD system is very cheap and has no moving parts. Hence, the cost of maintenance is almost free coupled with free source of energy. The RSWD of surface area 0.5m2 was able to produce an average of 0.4m3 of distilled water per day. Though the condensate was small compared to human need as is peculiar to many solar stills, the efficiency can be increased by fabricating RSWDs of larger surface area. Also, since the materials are cheap and readily available, one can fabricate as many RSWDs as possible to tackle the daily demand of potable water.