Cloth filter

A cloth filter is a simple and cost-effective appropriate technology method for reducing the contamination of drinking water, developed for use mainly in Bangladesh.

[1] The cloth is effective because most pathogens are attached to particles and plankton, particularly a type of zooplankton called copepods, within the water.

It has been demonstrated to greatly reduce cholera infections in poor villages where disinfectants and fuel for boiling are difficult to get.

However, where there are no other options, water professionals may consider that it is "of course, better than nothing" [5] The cloth filter has been studied and reported on by Rita Colwell and Anwar Huq from the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, together with other researchers from the United States and Bangladesh.

They report that: "It is common practice in villages in Bangladesh to use cloth, frequently a flat, unfolded piece of an old sari, to filter home-prepared drinks".

Women at a village pond in Matlab, Bangladesh washing utensils and vegetables. The woman on the right is putting a sari filter onto a water-collecting pot (or kalash ) to filter water for drinking.