RAPID: Remediation of Earthquake-Impacted Potable Water Sources with Cactus Mucilage

发展中国家迫切需要获得清洁水，并在自然灾害发生后提供饮用水。当地时间2010年1月12日下午4点53分，海地主要城市太子港发生7.0级地震。死亡人数已上升到20多万人，100多万幸存者需要基本服务，包括饮用水。地震会对几个水源的饮用水质量产生严重的不利影响。当城市环境遭受毁灭性地震袭击时，由于影响水流的极端条件，预计水中会出现不寻常的污染物。该RAPID提案有两个重要目标：(i)确定地震如何影响水质和可及性，特别是在城市环境中；（ii）测试仙人掌粘液净化污水的效果。仙人掌粘液是一种天然絮凝剂，已被证明可以去除水中的微粒、重金属和细菌等污染物。拟议工作的结果将提供有关水质的信息，以及由于城市环境中的地震等自然事件对这一宝贵资源造成的有害变化。同时，以每户每期的加仑水为单位，提供清洁饮用水所需的仙人掌粘液量也将被确定。此外，将获得重要的信息，以确定仙人掌粘液治疗与目前为受灾人口提供饮用水的救济方法的比较。预计该项目将客观地评估仙人掌粘液是否是在此类事件中提供清洁饮用水的可能的长期解决方案。研究小组将与区域和国际救济机构协调，以便不重复调查、抽样和监测。预计我们的研究将成为评估受地震和其他自然灾害（即洪水、火山爆发等）影响地区水质的全球框架的一部分，并成为分享用仙人掌粘液进行测试的想法和数据的途径。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室（OISE）共同资助。

There is an urgent need for the availability of clean water in the developing world, as well as to provide drinking water after a natural disaster. The main city of Port-au-Prince in Haiti was struck by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake this past January 12, 2010 at 4:53 pm local time. The death toll has risen to over 200,000 people, and the over 1 million survivors are in need of essential services including drinking water. Earthquakes can have severe detrimental effects on the quality of drinking water from several sources. Unusual pollutants are expected to appear in the water due to the extreme conditions that influence the flow of water when urban settings are hit by a devastating earthquake. This RAPID proposal has two important objectives: (i) To determine how earthquakes impact water quality and accessibility, especially in urban settings; and (ii) To test the effectiveness of the cactus mucilage in cleaning polluted water. Cactus mucilage is a natural flocculant that has been proven to remove contaminants such as particulates, heavy metals and bacteria from water. The results from the proposed work will provide information on water quality and detrimental changes on this valuable resource due to natural events such as an earthquake in an urban setting. Also the required amount of cactus mucilage to provide clean drinking water in terms of gallons of water per family per period of time will be determined. In addition, important information will be obtained to establish how cactus mucilage treatments compare to current relief methods for providing drinking water to the affected population. It is expected that this project will objectively assess if cactus mucilage is a possible long-term solution to provide clean drinking water in such events. The research team will coordinate with regional and international relief agencies, so that surveys, sampling and monitoring is not reduplicated. It is expected that our research will serve as part of a global framework to assess water quality in regions affected by earthquakes and other natural disasters (i.e., floods, volcano eruptions, etc.), and a path for sharing ideas and data on tests performed with the cactus mucilage. This award is co-funded by the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE).