The small structure built for the testing includes twenty four systems, each comprising an upper and a lower container. Each upper container has a ceramic purifier disk inset at the bottom, some disks saturated with colloidal silver and others not saturated.  As water filters through the disks additional water is replenished from the top.  
 

The flow rate per system is measured on a daily basis, and  constant attention helps make certain the systems are working properly.  Checking for flow rate and periodic bacteriological challenge will help determine those variables necessary to monitoring and evaluation.  Then the performance of the systems can be assessed in the vulnerable communities, comparing between families using the systems and their neighbors who are not.  
 

The water level is measured to indicate flow over time.  This is best done from the upper container, indicating the amount of water that has filtered out of it.  Small variations in flow rates make it necessary to adjust water input, so as to insure that 'water column height' is about the same for every purifier.  Careful record is taken for each and every system.  Periodically, microbiological challenge tests will also be performed.
 

Questions remain as to the optimal, parts per million of colloidal silver that is necessary, in order to insure a high degree of effective pathogen removal, and the testing will determine this.  Overall results will help in insuring that the vulnerable poor are getting pathogen safe water and using a good quality, low cost  system.  Whereas it has long been thought that ceramic and other clay materials vary a lot from place to place, making a single model impractical, the pottery purifier makes such low cost systems possible on a widespread basis.