Treating Drainage Water with Cactus Mucilage and Electrocoagulation for Construction Use

Access to clean water for industrial uses like building, where poor water quality might jeopardize concrete strength and durability, is severely limited in Egypt due to water shortage, especially in rural areas. Freshwater resources could be less stressed by treating wastewater locally and economically. Can contaminated drainage water be successfully treated to fulfill building standards utilizing an inexpensive, integrated water purification system that uses natural materials and electrocoagulation? Our hypothesis was that using the mucilage of cacti (Opuntia ficus-indica) as a natural coagulant in conjunction with electrocoagulation would greatly lower the turbidity, total dissolved solids (TDS), and adjust the pH in wastewater, resulting in water that could be mixed with cement. After five treatment cycles using a three-stage prototype (sponge filtration, cactus mucilage adsorption, and aluminum electrocoagulation) managed by Arduino sensors, we achieved a turbidity reduction from 53 to 10 NTU (81% improvement), a TDS decrease from 827 to 470 ppm (43% reduction), and pH adjustment from 6.2 to 7.0, bringing the water to near-neutral quality suitable for construction use. Each treatment cycle consumed approximately 82 watts of power. The technology effectively uses inexpensive, locally accessible materials to produce water appropriate for construction. By converting a waste stream into a valuable resource while minimizing environmental contamination and enhancing rural construction quality, it provides a decentralized, sustainable alternative for wastewater reuse in water-scarce areas.