Community Service Team students together with Prof. Dr. Fahimah Martak MSi (orange hijab), Nurul Widiastuti MSi PhD (cantaloupe orange hijab), and Dr Triyanda Gunawan SSi (black batik shirt)

ITS Campus, ITS News – Water from well still frequently found containing bacteria and metal compounds, it quite disruptive in the needs of clean water in the community. Following up on the condition, the Community Service Team (Abmas) of ITS applied the reverse-osmosis membrane process as a method of water purification for drinking water needs.

Abmas team under the direction of Prof. Dr. Fahimah Martak MSi began the research by looking for suitable methods for drinking water treatment. In this program, testing the water quality of wells becomes the main thing. “In addition, water samples for testing also come from the pool water of its Chemistry Department as well as PDAM water containing contaminants such as E. Coli bacteria, toxic compounds, and heavy metals,” explained Fahimah.

Prof Dr Fahimah Martak MSi (left) symbolically provided water purifiers to the management of Al-Ishlahiyah Boarding School

The professor of The Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and ITS Data Analytics said that the method that has been tested was successfully completed and produced a product in the form of drinking water in accordance with the standard of drinking water quality standards in PP No 82 Tahun 2001. Therefore, the method is made in a series of tools with specifications such as drinking water treatment in general in accordance with the direction of the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT).

The tool circuit consists of separation through five sets of filters to filter out heavy metals, micro-sized particles, and eliminate odors. After that, the water moves to ultraviolet reactors capable of shutting down microbes. “Furthermore, water is flowed through the reverse osmosis membrane to purify from the content of metals, viruses, or bacteria,” said the professor of complex compounds.

A series of water purifiers consisting of five filters, UV reactors, and reverse-osmosis membranes

The water purification tool has been given to Al-Ishlahiyah Boarding School (Ponpes) located in Pagentan Village, Singosari District, Malang. This effort is done to fulfill the independence of drinking water and improve the economy of the local community. Therefore, socialization on water purification and the way of operation of tools is also given to students and ponpes managers.

Fahimah revealed that the tool that has been successfully installed has a water source that is directly connected to the mosque’s tap water sourced from well water. When the tap water is turned on, then the water can go directly through the processing process without the need to be accommodated in the water tank. “This is an efficient step for drinking water so that ponpes residents can directly drink the processed water,” explained the mother of one child.

Behind the successful testing, abmas ITS team has also gone through a number of challenges because it took a little longer than expected referring to the condition of the water to be treated. This led to the need for in-depth literature studies to produce ready-made methods and safe drinking water products. “The Covid-19 pandemic also makes the program that has been scheduled since last June undergoing schedule changes, so that a lot of time and energy are trimmed,” explained Fahimah.

The enthusiasm of the santri Pondok Pesantren Al-Ishlahiyah during the socialization of the installation of water purifiers

Thus, Fahimah and the team hope that the water treatment equipment from his team’s research will make the students able to use the drinking water, so as to save the cost of purchasing bottled water. Similarly, the local community, because the purification tool is placed in the mosque so that it can be utilized by all parties.

Fahimah also assessed that there is an opportunity for ponpes to produce bottled water from the water treatment through further development. Hopefully, this bottled water can be a typical product ponpes that can add benefits for related parties. “Hopefully in the future can be realized to make packaging machines, licensing, and halal certification so that bottled water products can also be sold to the market,” she concluded.

(tri/Anjani/ITS Public Relation Officer)