Obtaining safe drinking water is problematic in many developing nations around the world. The HaloPure disinfection canister designed by HaloSource was created to provide household water treatment for middle-class families in India. The Waterbird device was tested for its effectiveness in reducing viruses. The main objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the Waterbird device in removing or inactivating bacteriophage MS2 and murine norovirus as surrogates for human pathogens. Secondary objectives were to determine the potential impacts, if any, that added organic contaminants (in the form of raw sewage) and pH adjustment have on the effectiveness of the device. The Waterbird device was tested by adding MS2 and murine norovirus stock to five liters of well water (with or without sewage); the pH of the water was adjusted to 7.5 or 9 before treatment. The murine norovirus samples were all reduced to the detection limit, achieving a minimum of 2.0 to 4.0 log10 reductions after treatment, but the performance of the device could not be accurately examined using these results. For the MS2, the Waterbird device inactivated or removed an average of 5.4 log10. The MS2 log reduction was affected by pH (p=0.006) and sampling times (p<0.001). Overall, the Waterbird device met the U.S. EPA's guidelines for water purifiers (which requires at least 4 log10 removal of viruses).
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