The SODIS Method

Clean drinking water is essential. Currently 80% of the world's illnesses, especially in developing countries, stem from unsanitary water, and inadequate access to safe drinking water. There is a clear correlation between access to safe drinking water and GDP per capita, and in this sense, water quality becomes a clear indicator of the ability of a nation to achieve sustainable development.

Diarrheal diseases are especially common from poor water quality. As such, we can look at simpler methods of water purification that can raise the standard of living, simply by disinfection.

One method is the Solar Disinfection (SODIS) Method, a water treatment method designed fur use at the household level. It utilizes the UV-A rays in sunlight to kill viruses, bacteria and parasites. Water is filled in clear PET bottles and placed in the sun for approximately six hours (the time will vary depending on the amount of sunlight). After this time period, the water is safe for use.

Though more effective in hotter climates, the method is becoming widespread as it is efficient, low in cost, environmentally sustainable, and quite effective. It has been tried and tested in countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. For example, Zambia is home to approximately 12 million people, of which half are without access to improved water sources. The SODIS Method was commenced here in 2008 in a slum in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, extending outwards to more rural areas as well. Those who participated in utilizing the SODIS Method saw immediate results in terms of a decrease in mortality rates and diarrheal diseases which allowed children to go to school more regularly, and parents to work, thereby raising the overall standard of living within the community.

More information on the project in Zambia as well as other countries around the world is located here. In addition, to see videos of the results of the practice of the SODIS Method, check out this site.

Safira Lakhani
From November 8, 2010
Posted December 9, 2010


Sources
"The Importance of Water." La Leva di Archimede. http://www.laleva.cc/environment/water.html (accessed November 8, 2010)

"SODIS METHOD." http://www.sodis.ch/methode/ir (accessed November 8, 2010)

Life Straw Family and Life Straw

Point-of-use (POU) water intervention: the concept of treating the water right before consumption. This is the clearest way of reducing the risk of waterborne disease arising from recontamination during collection, transport, and use in the home.

Life Straw and Life Straw family are POU water intervention products which have been on the market since 2006. Life Straw Family is unit equipped with a small storage unit meant to be used by an entire household while Life Straw is a portable unit meant for an individual to use anywhere there is water.

These water intervention products are safe, efficient, and present those in need with a more inexpensive option for drinking clean water.

Not only can it be used as a long term source of clean water, but it is also ideal for communities that have been struck by disaster and face the potential of an epidemic of water-borne diseases such as cholera. For example, after the recent flooding in Pakistan about 100,000 Life Straw and Life Straw Family units have been sent to Pakistan to supply 300,000 people with 125 billion litres of clean water over the next three years.

For more information on Life Straw and Life Straw Family, visit the Life Straw Website.

Lia Tramontini

9 December 2010

Q Drum

I found information on the Q Drum. It eases the transportation of water in 3rd world countries.

Q Drum is a invention to ease the burden of transporting clean drinking water in developing countries. The invention is a polyethylene donut shaped cylindrical vessel attached to a rope. The Q Drum can hold up to 50 litres of water and allows people to pull it across all terrains.
"The design ensures the ease of use- even a child can pull 50 litres of water without undue strain" (Q Drum website).

One of the Q Drum's main goal is to shift the burden of getting clean water away from adult women. Due to the simplicity of the invention the only repairs that would be needed is the rope which can easily be fixed or replaced using local materials. The only problem that Q Drum has is it`s price; at $30 per drum it is a small fortune for the people who really need it. This is why the company is heavily based from donations.

"The people that need them need can't afford them and must rely on people who can afford them but don't need them." - Dzuwa Trading-co founder.

Joel Piecowye

9 December 2010

"Q Drum ltd." Accessed 9 December 2010. www.qdrum.co.za/home.

Septic System

The diagrams illustrate the idea of ground water being drawn up for use, and then deposited back in the ground via a septic system.

Patrick Verkley
8 December 2010

Environmental Enhancements Inc. "Septic Systems." Accessed December 8, 2010. http://environmentalenhancements.com/systems.html.

Infiltrator Systems. "Onsite Septic Systems." Accessed December 9, 2010. http://www.infiltratorsystems.com/onsite/onsite.asp.

Using Water to Produce Energy

Coverting Water Wheel Mills to Electrical production

A Waterwheel is a system for extracting usable power from the water flowing in a river or stream. Along with windmills, waterwheels have been powering the milling of flour and other industry for hundreds of years.

Although waterwheels have now died out of use across most of the world, thanks to national grid electricity, they are still common use off-grid in places such as Nepal and India where hundreds of thousands of waterwheels are still used to this day. For many in the Himalayan regions a water wheels is the only source of power, together with dangerous kerosene lamps.

Now people are looking at ways in which waterwheels can be used to generate electricity , not just for these remote regions, but also in Europe and North America where enormous energy resources are untapped at the present

In developing countries where water wheel power is common, electricity can be generated fro those peropl ewho lieve where the electricity grid cannot reach, and combined with modern energy efficient LED and CFT lighting, can improve their standard of living enormously. It is not complicated or expensive to modify an existing waterwheel driven mill to operate as an electricity generator.

One example of how simply a wsater power can be used to generate electricity. If a small watermill turns at around 60rpm a belt to an alternator is made to turn at hundres of rpm, and so the voltage generated is perfect for recharging 12V batteries.

Car alternators can supply hundreds of watts of electrical power which can then be used to power lighting, radios, computers and so on. The typical cost of such a sytems is about $50, and has the advantage that the waterwheels used to generate power as been and continue to be maintained by the mill owner as it has been for centuries.

Andrew Cole

9 November 2010

Shelter: Part 2

A further look into shelters can provide us with simple solutions to help with large problems. Looking at windows, for example, cheap window material allows for Natural light to enter the space, thus minimizing the need for electric light or the use of flame based illumination. They can also be used as roofing in cold climates as to allow for the natural solar radiation to heat the house. There is more information located here.

Ventillation is closely related to windows as they can be used to heat and cool the space depending on the climate of the communities. This can also be very important if the community is dealing with livestock. If a slum is fortunate to have the ability to acquire and maintain livestock, then they will be able to better progress in farming and food related industries. Here is a site on ventilation of livestock housing.

Very simple cooking accommodations allows for homegrown food to be cooked, and by using wood, can be very independent from most wide scale infrastructure. If possible, home created electricity could power a refrigerator to keep food fresh. Simple technologies such as using geothermal refrigerating (underground refrigerating) can help maintain food in different climates.

Patrick Verkley

9 November 2010

Clean Water Production and Delivery

This essay begins in an interesting way it starts stating obvious facts, like we need water to live and that there was a time that "the human population did not have water easily available to them that would not potentially kill them." Apparently it became a common practice to us alcohol to disinfect the water - which resulted in the people being semi-drunk. It also discusses better ways developed for cleaning the water such as application of chlorine compounds, use of electrical power which produces ultraviolet light that causes breakdown of bacteria and viruses at the molecular level, and use of nuclear fissure and exposing the water to its radiation to accomplish the same task as the ultraviolet rays.

"One of the greatest advantages to using long-lived gamma emitters is that once it is in place, it will require very little maintenance. As a result, only a few people are needed to maintain this system in order to provide plenty of clean water to a very large population for many years without replacement. This will be important when the economic system has collapsed and every individual's time becomes much more precious to maintaining production."

This system then becomes appropriate as something we can introduce.

Lia Tramontini
9 November 2010

Community for Tomorrow. "Clean Water Production and Delivery." Accessed November 9th, 2010. http://www.communityfortomorrow.org/CleanWater.htm.