P7- Emeka Ariwodo, Drew Hollway, Flora Cabrera, Taylor Prichard

Water we going to do about the lack of clean water?

Introduction
Our NAE Grand Challenge is to provide access to clean water to areas that do not have that
access already. With approximately one in six people living without access to clean water, this challenge
is one of great importance. There are multiple divisions of this problem. Some areas of the world do not
have access to water due to them being landlocked and having a shortage. While other areas have plenty
of water but do not have the resources for it to be safe to drink. Our solution will be providing access to
clean water in small third world country communities, where more than 840,000 people die each year due
to disease from their water quality.

Technology Comparison

The currently existing technologies in the field of providing access to fresh water are varied. The
most common strategies for freshwater access provision are through water purification plants, wastewater
processing systems, and desalination systems. At water purification plants, a variety of different
purification systems are in place. For example, at the City of Houston East Water Purification Plant in
Galena Park, there are systems in place to process water using caustic soda, Powdered Activated Carbon,
ferric chloride, and many other chemicals. One of the ways in which wastewater purification plants work
is through a belt press system, where a type of flocculant polymer is added to the waste. This type of
polymer promotes the clumping of particles, which allows the waste to stick together and be pushed on a
conveyor belt. The trapped waste is then transported to trucks and disposed of. Another method of
producing fresh water is desalination: the process of removing salt from saltwater as seen in the graphic
below.

These technologies, however, are very costly. While caustic soda is very effective in raising Ph,
it is also terrible for people who come into contact with the chemical, causing severe burns and corrosion
of the skin and eyes on contact. Additionally, the cost of setting up large facilities for water and
wastewater treatment, and especially for desalination, plus the cost of repeatedly ordering chemicals as
they are used up in the process is a major downside to these methods.

Proposed Design Solutions

1)To provide individual device to the community to filter water when needed.
Construction of the Lifestraw
Although a Lifestraw already exist, creating a larger version of the
Lifestraw and making it capable of lasting longer than
aforementioned straw. This product would be a quick and effective
way of cleaning water that has been collected, because instead of
going through multiple steps for the water to be purified, this
would be a one-step solution. In terms of energy efficiency, there
would be a very small amount of energy to use because the water
that is collected will be
dropped into the Large Lifestraw which will pass through
different fibers to become purified.Current technologies are
exclusively focused on making large plants that will purify
water, but sometimes it is necessary in smaller areas with low
infrastructure to have something simple that can also be cost
effective.
P7- Emeka Ariwodo, Drew Hollway, Flora Cabrera, Taylor Prichard

2)Eliminating Water Stagnation by adding a concentrated filtration system

Adding a concentrated filtration system to lake and areas of concentrated wastewater or still
water. Stagnant water is known to be the home for bacteria and other parasites that accumulate because of
the lack or running water. Another factor that contributes to the pollution of of river, lakes and other
bodies of water is the contamination of humans that do not understand how to properly, dispose of waste.
By adding a filtration that is similar to that of a swimming pool, we can accomplish movement in these
bodies of water which will eventually get bacteria and other contaminates to begin to move and hopefully
be removed completely from the water. What most technology, that is currently being used to combat
contaminated water, it lacks in helping certain areas that need to be acknowledged, which are the root of
the problem. Many believe that simply cleansing the water after extracting it from a contaminated water
source is the solution, but we we must go deeper into why the water is polluted. Fixing the problem from
where is is originally contaminated will in the long-run give people cleaner and safer water.

3)Three-pitcher system for water filtration

Using three different containers to filter through the contaminated water
allows for a cleaner supply of water. This system is also energy efficient
because it doesn't use external energy, many of its resources can be found
easily and replenished without the need to find an energy source. This will also
be very convenient to families because they will are able to construct this
within their home without the hassle of having to leave and find clean water,
when they can have it all done in their home. This advancement in the
treatment of water in third world countries is a better approach than what is
currently being used to combat infested waters. Because instead of having
water go through different treatments, the water will go through one filtration
system that will give you the water almost immediately (Similar to the process
shown on the left, contaminated water is filtered by gravel, sand and filings).
This works to the advantage of those seeking clean water because people can
use the clean water almost as soon as they add the contaminated water to the
filtration system.

4)Using ocean water for indoor plumbing

With the abundance of ocean water it would only seem reasonable to use it to our advantages
since it cannot be used as drinking water. Our best use for it would be plumbing. With the use of ocean
water for plumbing, there will be a need for clean water to be used for consumption, in order to get clean
water it will be simpler to take contaminated water and boil it to get rid of bacteria. This will create and
abundance of clean drinking water. The way we planned to clean the contaminated water is to collect the
contaminated water into large containers where the it will sit for an estimated six hours, once the time has
passed we will remove the leftover waste and move this cleaner water to our second step. The second step
is to heat the water to point where most of the bacteria is gone and can be used safely for consumption.
This method would be effective in contrast to what a large-scale plant would do. We are using materials
that can be found almost anywhere and are using the resources effectively, instead of attempting to bring
a completely new resource that would require the import of that product into these areas.

Design Process Discussion

In our design process, we initially started out by gathering as many ideas as we possibly could
and wrote the ideas down so we could have a base of information to start to sort through. We then
P7- Emeka Ariwodo, Drew Hollway, Flora Cabrera, Taylor Prichard

formulated a list of criteria to ease the decision making process, and also cut back on disagreement. When
looking through our ideas, we started to grade them in each category on a scale from 1-5 and picked the
four that seemed most plausible, which had the highest ratings. We were left with our four solutions and
ultimately combined solution one and three with also additional changes. After completing the grading of
our ideas we were left with three main ideas. In essence, they were we use some sort of filter, we design
something the make the water not stagnant, or we develop a new version of a water treatment plant. We
ruled out the first two ideas because they require a lot of energy, they are relatively expensive, and require
a lot of maintenance, things third world countries do not have access to so this idea was not the most ideal
for our target. We ultimately went with designing a filtration system because it is a cheaper and faster
solution than the alternates. Essentially, the device is a multi-stage filtration system comprised of basic
materials that are cheap yet effective. The filtration will be encased in multiple connected plastic
containers that can either be stacked or connected by tubes. The water is poured into the first bucket,
where large mesh grating will sit on the top collecting larger objects such as rocks, sticks, grass, leaves,
etc that can easily be removed and cleaned. It then will pass through a series of gravel and sand layers
descending in radius that will filter out clay and dirt. The most important step is the final step where the
water passes through a layer of activated charcoal. The activated charcoal is porous and traps pathogens
when the water passes not allowing them through. The activated charcoal also aids in odor control and
color of the water. We are also looking into implementing other materials into our design that can aide in
the removal of bacteria such as the type of sand used and adding metals such as silver that are antiseptics.

Conclusion
Access to clean water is a necessity millions of people take for granted everyday. This is a huge
problem in many parts of the world, but since this issue does not affect civilians in first world countries
directly few people are focused on solving it. Many of the people living in these third world countries do
not have the knowledge or tools to fix this issue by themselves which is why it is imperative the globe as
a whole comes together to fix issues like these. Although the final solution we went with may not be as
durable in the long run, it is a solution that will address the problem quicker than any of the other ideas
which could in return save more lives.

References

"Access to Safe Drinking Water: Challenges and Opportunities for Improving Global Health." Fair Observer.
N.p., 12 Mar. 2016. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.

IP-6: Water Quality in Kentucky: Using Activated Carbon Filters to Treat Home Drinking Water. N.p., n.d.
Web. 27 Apr. 2017.

Markham, Derek. "15 Concepts and Solutions for Providing Clean Drinking Water." TreeHugger. N.p., 16 May
2012. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.

"Water Supply." Tampa Bay Water | Supplying Drinking Water to the Tampa Bay Region. N.p., n.d. Web. 27
Apr. 2017.

Water In Crisis - Spotlight Africa: Rural and Urban Issues." The Water Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.