COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF MATERIALS ENGINEERING

REPORT ON THE CORROSION OF WATER PIPES IN

TANTRA HILL, ACHIMOTA-ACCRA.

ODEI AKROFIE DANIEL-9695613

AUGUST, 2014.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Special thanks to the Almighty God for the strength to complete this
project. I also very grateful to my parents, Mr.& Mrs. Odei who
contributed to making this study a successful one. My heartfelt
appreciation goes to my sister, Elizabeth Odei and friend, Solomon
Attah for their immense support especially during the data collection.
I say thank you, and may the Almighty Lord bless you all.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Introduction
Objective of the Assignment
Brief Background to the Course

Methodology
Different Branches of Materials Engineering

Results
Map of Tantra Hill, Achimota-Accra
Nature of Challenge
Different Branches of Materials Engineering
How can the problem be solved

Conclusion

Recommendations

References

Appendix
Questionnaire for individuals in the community

Questionnaires for Ghana Water Company Limited.

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A. INTRODUCTION
i. Brief Background to the Course

This course is titled The Provost's Special Initiative and it is a course that came about as a
result of several conference observations that the African University graduate appears to
becoming increasingly separated from the realities of life in Africa, i.e. the curricula do not
appear to address the day to day challenges that Africans face. Society expects education in
general and University education in particular to equip Africans to solve African problems. Thus
this course is my attempt to respond to this need.

ii. Objective of the Assignment

The main objectives of the assignment are:

to inculcate in students an appreciation of the fact that the purpose of engineering is to

solve societal problems
Encouraging students to draw a link between their chosen field of Engineering and the
application of this field to the issues that confront the day to day lives of people.

This report consists of a precise map of my community, one main development challenge facing
the community, the nature, characteristics and scope of the challenge and recommendations to
the identified problem.

B. METHODOLOGY
Based on a series of investigations I conducted on the health of the inhabitants of my
community, my findings revealed that a majority of them suffered from water poisoning and so I
went ahead to find out what had caused the poisoning of the water. .After some series of tests I
found out that the water the people drank was contaminated daily with particles of iron and
carbon. Upon knowing this I did some more investigations and it revealed that the main pipe
lines that supply water to the people were corroded and as a result pieces of the steel chips are
peeled off daily and add up to the water contaminating it. With the preparation of the map,
basically I considered the location of the community

With the aid of Google map, I was able to locate my community on the map of Ghana. I zoomed
in and dragged the pane to get the exact position of my location. I pressed the printscreen key on
the keyboard to copy the map. I opened the paint window, pasted the map there and finally saved
it. I finally copied and pasted it from paint to a page in my project.

C. RESULTS
Tantra Hill is my community and is located in the Ga West District in the Greater Accra region
off the Achimota Nsawam road. Their source of water is pipe borne. Tantra hill is bordered by

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Ofankor on the north, New Achimota- Mile seven on the south, Golden Door on the west and the
Achimota-Nsawam main road on the east.

i. Map of Tantra Hill, Achimota-Accra:

ii. Nature of Challenge:

The main challenge in my community is the contamination of water due to corroded pipes. The
major pipe lines that supply water keep corroding and pieces of the material keep adding up to
the water making it unsafe for drinking. Victims upon drinking the water suffer from kidney
infections and in severe cases end up with cancer.

iii. Different Branches of Materials Engineering:

Materials engineers are responsible for the research, specification, design and development of
materials to advance technologies of many kinds. Their expertise lies in understanding the
properties and behaviors of different substances, from raw materials to finished products. The
field is also referred to as materials science or materials technology.

Materials engineering has three branches namely metallurgical, ceramics and polymers.

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Metallurgical Engineering is a broad field that deals with all sorts of metal-related areas. The
three main branches of this major are physical metallurgy, extractive metallurgy and mineral
processing. Physical metallurgy deals with problem solving that is development of metallic
alloys needed for different types of manufacturing and construction. Extractive metallurgy
involves extracting metal from ore. Mineral processing involves gathering mineral products from
the earths crust. Metallurgical engineers extract, refine, and recycle metals. They solve problems
such as reducing corrosion, maintaining heat levels, and increasing the strength of a product.
They help develop or improve metals that are used in healthcare, transportation, defense, and in
the entertainment industry.

Ceramic engineering is the branch of materials engineering and science that involves inorganic,
nonmetallic materials. Ceramic engineers design the materials that make it possible for other
engineering disciplines to advance: glass fibers and optical devices for telecommunication
networks; electronic ceramics that make cell phones possible; high temperature materials that
allow jet engines to operate at more efficient temperatures; biocompatible materials that replace
diseased tissues, etc. Ceramic engineers use basic principles from chemistry and physics to
understand how to design new materials at the atomic level, then to process these materials into
useful forms.

Polymer engineering is generally an engineering field that designs, analyses, and/or modifies
polymer materials. Polymer engineering covers aspects of petrochemical industry,
polymerization, structure and characterization of polymers, properties of polymers, compounding
and processing of polymers and description of major polymers, structure property relations and
applications. The basic division of polymers into thermoplastics and thermo sets helps define
their areas of application. The latter group of materials includes phenol resins, polyesters and
epoxy resins, all of which are used widely in composite materials when reinforced with stiff
fibers such as fiber glass. Since cross linking stabilizes the thermosetting matrix of these
materials, they have physical properties more similar to traditional engineering materials like
steel. However, their very much lower densities compared with metals makes them ideal for
lightweight structures. In addition, they suffer less from fatigue, so are ideal for safety-critical
parts which are stressed regularly in service.

Thermoplastics have relatively low tensile module, but also have low densities and
properties such as transparency which make them ideal for consumer products and medical
products. They include polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon, acetyl resin, polycarbonate and PET,
all of which are widely used materials. Elastomers are polymers which have very low module
and show reversible extension when strained, a valuable property for vibration absorption and
damping. They may either be thermoplastic (in which case they are known as Thermoplastic
elastomers) or cross linked, as in most conventional rubber products such as tyres. Typical
rubbers used conventionally include natural rubber, nit rile rubber, polychloroprene,
polybutadiene, styrene-butadiene and fluorinated rubbers such as Viton.

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 The problem may be solved by manufacturing a different material to serve as a runway
for the water. Since carbon steel is a metal alloy, a combination of two elements iron and carbon,
the iron present when it comes into contact with water corrodes with time .This property of the
iron causes the carbon steel to corrode and as a result pieces of the material add up to the water.
Therefore a different material that is polyvinyl chloride or galvanized steel must be used.
Polyvinyl chloride is more effective, can be made softer and more flexible by addition of
plasticizers .It is light in weight, of low cost and low maintenance and as such makes it attractive
It can also be fused with together with other materials using solvent cement or heat fused.
Polyvinyl chloride has been naturally accepted and can be a suitable material.

Unplasticated polyvinyl chloride (Upvc) is an extensively used in building industry as a

low maintenance material especially in Ireland. The material has almost entirely replaced the
carbon steel for plumbing and drainage. It is used for waste pipes, drainpipes, gutters and
downspouts. Upvc does not contain phthalates since they are mostly added to flexible polyvinyl
chloride. Upvc is known as having strong resistance against chemicals, sunlight and oxidation
from water.

iv. How can the problem be solved?

The solution to this problem using ideas in materials engineering, is to combine zinc and
phosphorus to form a coating of zinc phosphate (Zn3(PO4)2). The zinc phosphate will be used as
a corrosion resistant to coat all the surfaces of the major pipelines to prevent them from
corroding while in use.

D. CONCLUSIONS:
From the study, I discovered that:

The water will continue to be contaminated with the peelings of pipes if they are not
replaced or coated.

E. RECOMMENDATIONS:
I recommend that:

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 The major pipes made of steel should be well coated with zinc phosphate before they are
installed.
The areas affected with this problem should have their pipelines replaced with a PVC
pipe
Funds should be made available to support the education of people on how to detect that
a water is contaminated due to corrosion.

REFERENCES

F. APPENDIX: 1 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR COMMUNITY MEMBERS

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QUESTIONNAIRES FOR MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY

1. HOW DO YOU GET WATER SUPPLY ?

FROM GHANA WATER DISTRIBUTION NETWORK
FROM BOREHOLE IN THE COMMUNITY
PURCHASE WATER YOURSELF
FROM BOREHOLE DUG BY YOURSELF

2. WHAT DO YOU USE THIS WATER FOR?

FOR DRINKING
FOR HOUSEHOLD CHORES
FOR BOTH DRINKING AND HOUSEHOLD CHORES

3. HAVE YOU HAD ANY PROBLEMS FROM USING THE WATER ?

..........

4. WHAT KIND OF PROBLEM WAS IT ?

...................................................................................................... .

5. WHAT CAUSED IT ?

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G. APPENDIX: 2 QUESTIONNAIRES FOR GHANA WATER COMPANY
LIMITED.

QUESTIONNAIRES FOR GHANA WATER COMPANY LIMITED.

1. How often do we have to get water?
Less than once a month
Once a month
Once every two weeks
Once a week
Two or three times a week
Daily
Not at all

2. What maintenance measures do you apply to the pipelines that transport water to
the communities?

3. How would you know if a pipeline transporting water to a particular community is

corroded?

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