Efficacy and Sustainable Adoption of BioSand Filters for Household Drinking Water Treatment: Case Study in Borama, Somalia

Efficacy and Sustainable Adoption of BioSand Filters for Household Drinking Water Treatment: Case Study in Borama, Somalia | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Case Report Efficacy and Sustainable Adoption of BioSand Filters for Household Drinking Water Treatment: Case Study in Borama, Somalia Dr. Ahmed Awale Ahmed This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7668141/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This case study investigates the efficacy of BioSand Filters (BSFs) in providing safe drinking water in the Borama district of Somalia, a region characterized by water scarcity and contamination. The research assesses the BSF's performance in removing pathogens and improving water quality, analyzing both laboratory and field results. Utilizing a combination of manual and biological testing, the study evaluates the filter's effectiveness in reducing bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and helminths, alongside turbidity and iron. The BSF demonstrated significant pathogen removal, achieving up to 95.66% bacterial reduction in laboratory settings and between 87.9% and 98.5% in field conditions, with consistent helminth removal and an 85% reduction in turbidity. The study also explores community adoption and long-term use, highlighting the importance of community engagement and proper maintenance in ensuring the sustainability of BSF implementation. While the BSF effectively addresses microbial contamination and turbidity, it is limited in its ability to remove dissolved contaminants, pointing towards the potential need for complementary water treatment methods. The findings underscore the BSF's potential as a cost-effective, decentralized solution for improving access to safe drinking water in resource-constrained environments, contributing to the body of knowledge on point-of-use water treatment technologies. Environmental Engineering Water Water quality Sanitation Sanitary practices Coliforms Contamination Informal Settlements Urban poor Poverty Urbanization Africa Somalia Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7668141","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Case Report","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":518307201,"identity":"010db602-e232-4906-b81d-4bc69ae6d582","order_by":0,"name":"Dr. Ahmed Awale Ahmed","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA80lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYLACxgYgcRxEMDADcQKxWs4cIFnLjQQitfBLt19g+LljmxzfzcdPN3xss2bgZ88xYPxRgVuL5JwzBYy9Z24bS95OM7s5sy2dQbLnjQEzzxncWgxu5CQw8LbdTtxwO8HsNm/bYZCIATNjG24t9kAtjH/bbtdvuHn8G1gLUMSA8SceLQYS6QeYgbYkGNzggdoikWMAtBe3FokbOQyHZdtuG848k1N2c8a5dB6JM88KDuPzC/+M9IcP37bdluc7fnzbjQ9l1nL87ckbH+ILMQYGHoMDKFwQcQCbQgRgf4BffhSMglEwCkYBAJcpWgI3sw67AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0006-2545-4676","institution":"Amoud University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"Dr.","firstName":"Ahmed","middleName":"Awale","lastName":"Ahmed","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-09-21 16:50:21","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":true,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":true},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7668141/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7668141/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":91939747,"identity":"cafc87b7-228a-4e1d-b1ed-7e35dd6b9941","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-23 03:21:23","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":584968,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"thirdpaperr.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7668141/v1_covered_92d7d2a8-4538-42c7-a12d-ecebd0857753.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEfficacy and Sustainable Adoption of BioSand Filters for Household Drinking Water Treatment: Case Study in Borama, Somalia\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Water, Water quality, Sanitation, Sanitary practices, Coliforms, Contamination, Informal Settlements, Urban poor, Poverty, Urbanization, Africa, Somalia ","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7668141/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7668141/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis case study investigates the efficacy of BioSand Filters (BSFs) in providing safe drinking water in the Borama district of Somalia, a region characterized by water scarcity and contamination. 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