Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Water Capture and Filtration System for Arid Rural Communities
EPA Grant Number: SU833935Title: Water Capture and Filtration System for Arid Rural Communities
Investigators: Macedo, Joseli , Sommer, Alex , Hutton, Christen , Patten, Iris , November, John , Weaver, Robert
Institution: University of Florida
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: I
Project Period: August 15, 2008 through August 14, 2009
Project Amount: $10,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2008) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: P3 Challenge Area - Safe and Sustainable Water Resources , P3 Challenge Area - Sustainable and Healthy Communities , Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
During Phase 1, our P3 team developed a model of our proposed sustainable system. We designed a system that uses a rain garden in a separate location than the actual reservoir, which maximizes the collection area, and integrates two additional levels of sustainable water filtration into the system. Our P3 system relies upon the existing water reservoir as a catch basin to collect water and improves upon it by integrating an enclosed storage tank under it. Since the primary uses of water within Sissene are for household use (i.e., cooking and drinking) and irrigation, we have also developed a method that distributes a different quality of water for each of these uses. During Phase 2, we plan to build our system in Sissene, Burkina Faso.Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
The primary goal of our Phase 1 funding was to complete a scaled version of our P3 design. The great thing about our project is that it would help almost 4,000 residents and give hope to several adjacent villages that clean water was not a privilege, it is a right. Due to the location of the site, we relied upon secondary data and personal accounts to guide our planning and prototype design, which resulted in conflicting information creating quite a precarious situation. Ultimately, we successfully developed a sound design, we decided to develop a model demonstrating the functionality of the system and instead of testing size, we used the model to test our design capabilities and establish baseline measurements.Conclusions:
Overall, our design was extremely successful. From the model we created, we were able to determine filtration rates for the course filtration system, rain garden, and slow sand filter. Using available maps, the most recent of which is 2004 for aerial and a 2008 map created by a Burkinabe engineering firm, we were able to determine the orientation of the reservoir and discuss potential locations for the remote rain gardens.
As our team discussed cost, we decided that it would be better to offer a base system that provided for a manual water pump and a course filtration system with remote rain garden. If financial resources are available, a solar powered pump will be installed and the PV array conducive to maximum energy collection and least cost will be sized specific to the location. The discussion in section 3 provides for output amounts in an example solar array in Burkina Faso.
Unfortunately, we were unable to develop a specific water distribution system due to inadequate spatial data. All available maps do not include the location of village residents, therefore making it impossible to develop a system that would maximize distribution while minimizing cost and distribution. We have included in the previous discussion options for distributing water for household and agricultural purposes. Our P3 team was also unable to estimate the cost of constructing our system due to a lack of in-country information. The data that were collected by the engineering firm who constructed the reservoir were helpful, but it also caused our team to question figures and conclusions. Additionally, the last census taken for the village was in 1996. We have been unable to determine whether this figure is still correct and to design a system for almost 4,000 people without accounting for changes in population, spatial distribution of residents, location of agricultural activities, and local cost of materials, we believe is irresponsible. The primary difficulty of this project was relying upon secondary information as a way to design our system. Burkina Faso is truly a developing country and in one instance when a P3 team member contacted a Burkinabe GIS technician to attain GIS data, the Burkinabe technician was impressed that the data that I retrieved from ESRI and Google was more recently updated than his, and he worked for the government. If we had to do Phase 1 over again, I believe that we would pick the same problem in the same location. We were smart in approaching the problem using a systems-based approach and because the solution is not cut and dry, every design offered flaws and ultimately trade-offs either in terms of cost of construction or design efficacy. Our biggest lesson was that we should have visited the country first hand before we attempted to develop a design. We would have been able to validate information and gather needed data, which would have made developing a feasible system less complicated.
The greatest success we have achieved during Phase 1 is the new bond that has been created between our P3 team, the residents of Sissene, Zodo Noogo Association, CBG, and countless community partners who see the potential in our project. The association has provided updates, including pictures, as frequently as a reliable internet connection can be established. As questions arose during project design, we learned more about their culture and how very different and often difficult creating a water filtration and capture system in Burkina Faso is compared to the accomplishing the same task in the United States. Through dialogue, we have learned more about each other tradition, each other’s culture, and how we can both help to create a more sustainable world.
Proposed Phase II Objectives and Strategies:
Constructing our water capture and filtration system model is the first step to sustainabilliy. In addition to providing a stable source of water year round in Phase 2, we will also strive to improve community outreach within adjacent villages in Burkina Faso and here in the United States, develop an analytical framework for evaluating the efficacy of our system in situ, providing guidance for diversifying the existing economy, and facilitating community planning that includes further infrastructure improvements.
Supplemental Keywords:
water, water availability, water access, sustainable water management, drinking water, water treatment, water purification technologies, water filtration, solar powered water pumping, sustainable infrastructure design, water conservation, education and exchangeRelevant Websites:
www.eng4earth.org
www.iepcollaborative.org
www.ufl.edu
www.zodonogo.org
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.