Water Purification System
In this project we set out to improve the drinking water quality in Third World countries located in Africa. Current water sources are far away from their villages but the water is muddy, infested with bacteria, and is normally carried in heavy, bulky, and dirty buckets. Women and children spend hours collecting water that will put life threatening bacteria and viruses in their body. Most people have the knowledge that they must boil the water before they drink it but don’t have enough fuel to boil the water.
Our solution was The Aqua Tube. It’s lightweight, durable, and cost efficient, water container/purifier. The Aqua Tube uses three stages to clear water of mud, rocks, and bacteria and it does not require any fuel.
The first stage is a cheese cloth filter that clears large debris and dirt from the water. The water then sits inside the main area it the Aqua Tube where the sun’s UV rays hits the water. They are intensified by the foil reflecting the light back at the water. The UV rays kills 99.99% of the most common and harmful bacteria and viruses found in the water. Finally, there is a finer weave cheesecloth filter that gives the water a final clean and removes finer dirt and small debris that the first filter did not catch. On an average day, it will take about four hours for the water it be clean enough to safely drink. However, the average distance to walk back to a village is around four hours. Therefore, no extra time would need to be invested in water purification.
The Aqua Tube and the other products like it can change the world. If people are not sick in bed from waterborne diseases they can be getting an education or earning money. More jobs can be created and a more stable economy formed. Third World countries located in Africa can get out of the seemingly endless cycles they are stuck in. People there get little education so they can't get a good job. Therefore, the people stay poor. We can break this loop with reliable access to clean water.
This is our power point for this project:
Our solution was The Aqua Tube. It’s lightweight, durable, and cost efficient, water container/purifier. The Aqua Tube uses three stages to clear water of mud, rocks, and bacteria and it does not require any fuel.
The first stage is a cheese cloth filter that clears large debris and dirt from the water. The water then sits inside the main area it the Aqua Tube where the sun’s UV rays hits the water. They are intensified by the foil reflecting the light back at the water. The UV rays kills 99.99% of the most common and harmful bacteria and viruses found in the water. Finally, there is a finer weave cheesecloth filter that gives the water a final clean and removes finer dirt and small debris that the first filter did not catch. On an average day, it will take about four hours for the water it be clean enough to safely drink. However, the average distance to walk back to a village is around four hours. Therefore, no extra time would need to be invested in water purification.
The Aqua Tube and the other products like it can change the world. If people are not sick in bed from waterborne diseases they can be getting an education or earning money. More jobs can be created and a more stable economy formed. Third World countries located in Africa can get out of the seemingly endless cycles they are stuck in. People there get little education so they can't get a good job. Therefore, the people stay poor. We can break this loop with reliable access to clean water.
This is our power point for this project:
Concepts
In this project we had to use the engineering design cycle to make our project. The engineering design cycle is when one first identifies a problem that needs a solution. In this project our problem that we identified was the lack of clean water in Africa. The criteria for this project was we had to effectively help people with a new concept or invention. The next part of the engineering design cycle was that we had to brainstorm ideas to help people in Africa receive clean water. Some of our ideas were to create an irrigation system or plumbing, but we decided that a portable water purification system would be the best for the people. We built the Aqua Tube out of clear vinyl, aluminum foil, cheese cloth, and a water dispenser. When we were done with it had to go back and re-seal any holes found inside the Aqua Tube. This step was part of the evaluating part of the process. We finally presented our findings and now we will go back and improve therefore the cycle will repeat.
Another concept that we learned about was solar water purification. Solar water purification is when UV rays are reflected at the water causing many harmful bacteria in the water to die. The sun light also has to heat just enough to kill the harmful bacteria. Others might say they could just boil the water to make it safe to drink, but in many parts of Africa it is hard to have enough fuel to boil water on a daily basis so this is a better alternative.
We also learned a lot about poverty. Poverty is a harsh cycle that is often hard to get out of because most people in poverty find it hard to get an education which means job offers are scarce. This means that it is hard to provide for yourself which can lead you contacting an illness. You won’t be able to see a doctor because you can’t pay for one or for health care. You also won’t be able to provide for a family so you children will restart the same vicious cycle.
The final concept that we learned about was how the world works. We had a hard time actually finding cheap boxes that would fit the most Aqua Tubes. If we did find a box that would have the best use to fit the most Aqua Tubes, the price to send it to Africa would be astronomical. We had to do do a lot of research and math to actually find a method to ship the water purification for a logical economic price.
Another concept that we learned about was solar water purification. Solar water purification is when UV rays are reflected at the water causing many harmful bacteria in the water to die. The sun light also has to heat just enough to kill the harmful bacteria. Others might say they could just boil the water to make it safe to drink, but in many parts of Africa it is hard to have enough fuel to boil water on a daily basis so this is a better alternative.
We also learned a lot about poverty. Poverty is a harsh cycle that is often hard to get out of because most people in poverty find it hard to get an education which means job offers are scarce. This means that it is hard to provide for yourself which can lead you contacting an illness. You won’t be able to see a doctor because you can’t pay for one or for health care. You also won’t be able to provide for a family so you children will restart the same vicious cycle.
The final concept that we learned about was how the world works. We had a hard time actually finding cheap boxes that would fit the most Aqua Tubes. If we did find a box that would have the best use to fit the most Aqua Tubes, the price to send it to Africa would be astronomical. We had to do do a lot of research and math to actually find a method to ship the water purification for a logical economic price.
Reflection
In this project we were very successful with our physical result and we new have a better understanding of how the political world works. We were able to get a rough prototype almost in a fully working condition done in a short period of time. This is because we evenly distributed the work out among ourselves. Another beneficial part of this project is that we know have a better understanding of the world around us. We had to do a lot of research about materials, places, and the science behind the water purification system. This helped me learn more about how to be an adult to actually try to figure out the real world.
Some of the things we could have done better was to use a better sealing material and how to change the filters. We should have used a better sealing material because we used hot glue which was not the best. Hot glue was not he best because it kept leaking. We kept running into problems because the hot glue was not water repellent which caused the leaks, in the future we will most likely melt the plastic together. Another thing we could have done better was to have a way to be able to change the filters because the water would be dirty and muddy causing the filter to lessen its effectiveness, but we had no way to change the filter. This was a disadvantage because after a while the filter would stop doing its job and we would have no way to fix it.
Some of the things we could have done better was to use a better sealing material and how to change the filters. We should have used a better sealing material because we used hot glue which was not the best. Hot glue was not he best because it kept leaking. We kept running into problems because the hot glue was not water repellent which caused the leaks, in the future we will most likely melt the plastic together. Another thing we could have done better was to have a way to be able to change the filters because the water would be dirty and muddy causing the filter to lessen its effectiveness, but we had no way to change the filter. This was a disadvantage because after a while the filter would stop doing its job and we would have no way to fix it.