Estimating the Global Target Market for Passive Chlorination

Abstract

Deployment of passive (in-line) chlorinators, devices that disinfect water without electricity or daily user input, is one strategy to advance access to safely managed drinking water. Using the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) data, we first calculate the number of people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) using drinking water sources that are either compatible (piped water, kiosks) or potentially compatible (packaged/delivered water, rainwater, tubewells, boreholes, protected springs) with passive chlorinators. Leveraging water quality data from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), we estimate that 2.32 [95% CI: 2.19, 2.46] billion people in LMICs use microbially contaminated (with fecal indicator bacteria) drinking water sources that are compatible (1.51 [1.42, 1.60] billion) or potentially compatible (817 [776, 858] million) with passive chlorinators. The largest target market for passive chlorinators is in South Asia (551 [532, 571] million rural users and 401 [384, 417] million urban users), where over 77% of drinking water sources compatible with passive chlorinators are contaminated. However, self-reported household water treatment practices indicate that chlorination is more common in the African and Latin American regions, suggesting passive chlorination would have higher acceptance in these regions compared to Asia. Reaching the full target market will require establishing passive chlorinator compatibility with handpumps and protected springs and identifying financially viable implementation models.