Mitigating the water scarcity challenges by a novel Dual Stage Water Purifier Unit-An experimental study

• Dual-stage purifier with organic media fabricated for villages at low cost. • Dual-stage unit treats grey & saline water, yielding EPA-standard drinking water. • Water yield for wood shavings & coir is 5.3% & 10.7% lower than Celdek packing. • TDS, hardness, chloride & sulphate reduced by 29%, 58%, 50% & 33.3% respectively. • Two-stage purifier with Celdek packing showed better filtration performance. This study presents the development of a dual-stage water purification system for the treatment of grey water (GW) and saline water (SW). In the first stage, water was passed through a graded series of filtration layers arranged from coarse to fine, while the second stage employed organic packing materials—Celdek (C), coconut coir (CC), and wood shavings (WS)—to further enhance purification and humidification. Water quality was evaluated at multiple stages, with the system achieving optimum performance of 0.27 LPM production rate, 19% efficiency, and a specific filtration capacity of 265 LPM/m² when operated with saline water and Celdek packing. Results indicated that water production increased during the initial six minutes before stabilizing, with the first stage accounting for the greatest removal of impurities relative to the second. Across both stages, reductions were observed in total dissolved solids (29%), hardness (58%), chloride (50%), and sulphate (33.3%). Overall, the dual-stage water filtration–humidification unit demonstrated strong efficacy in treating both grey and saline water, delivering potable water that complies with EPA standards.