9/23/2010
What if, in addition to earning a degree from a top-ranked engineering program, you could actually change the lives of several million people?
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What if, in addition to earning a degree from a top-ranked engineering program, you could actually change the lives of several million people?
For several years, the Mayan community of Socorro, Guatemala was afflicted with acute and chronic gastrointestinal diseases stemming from poor drinking water quality, soil-transmitted helminthes (worm) infections, and malnutrition. During the beginning of the rainy season, diarrheal rates in children exceeded 75%, resulting in missed school, emotional and economical stress on their families, and occasionally death.
In an attempt to alleviate their drinking water crisis, the people of Socorro assembled a council and, with the help of Wuqu’ Kawoq, a U.S.-based non-governmental organization, contacted the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB-UIUC) requesting assistance. As a result of a three-year partnership, relief has come in the form of a simple, effective, and ever-evolving water treatment system: the biosand filter.
"The biosand filter utilizes the purification phenomena of the natural environment to treat the raw river water in two distinct ways," explained former project leader Peter Maraccini, a recent graduate in civil and environmental engineering (CEE).
"Once water is poured into the filter and allowed to pass through the sand, microbial and algal colonies develop in the top portion of the sand column and form a biological film, or biofilm. The biofilm helps strain or inactivate helminthe (worm) eggs, protozoa (such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium), and infectious bacteria from the water. Secondly, because dissolved metals in the water oxidize and subsequently precipitate throughout the sand column, the negatively-charged bacteria and viruses may be attracted and adsorbed to the positively-charged metal oxides in the sand and removing them from water.
According to Maraccini, research is ongoing to better identify all routes of protozoa, bacteria, and virus removal; still, it is evident that the biosand filter harnesses to power of the natural environment to Socorro’s benefit.
"While it was apparent biosand filter could significantly benefit Socorro, many outside factors had to be considered before this water treatment could be implemented there," Maraccini added. "Principally, the people of Socorro had to be the drivers of the project with EWB-UIUC and Wuqu’ Kawoq supporting them. Our team members kept this in mind during a two-week trip to Socorro in December 2009/January 2010 when the implementation of the biosand filters began."
EWB-UIUC trained four members of the community on the construction of biosand filters using only locally available materials and simple building techniques. The construction workers were incredibly adept and quickly acquired the necessary construction techniques by late January.
Concurrently, team members trained two social workers and seven teachers at the local elementary school on biosand filter use and maintenance, along with lessons on the importance of proper water storage, healthy hygiene, and sanitary practices.
After the EWB team left in early January, the project continued spreading to serve all 150 houses in Socorro. Without any outside help, the construction workers built and installed the biosand filters throughout the community . The social workers and elementary teachers trained future users of each biosand filter before units were delivered, and returned to answer and lingering questions after installation.
"Best of all, the people of Socorro are spreading the word on the biosand filters’ success and the construction workers have been asked to produce and deliver filters in the nearby towns of Pacaco, Las Guardianias, and another community in the Guatemalan highlands with whom Wuqu’ Kawoq work," said team member and CEE graduate student Ofelia Romero. "This success came from within the community and now the benefits of the biosand filter will reach new and previously unaided regions of Guatemala."
After recognizing how a simple and effective water treatment technology can spread organically to help an exponentially greater number of people, EWB-UIUC refocused its efforts to improve the removal mechanism of the biosand filter.
"Within the filter, metals dissolved in water can precipitate to form positive metal oxides, to which negatively charged viruses in the environment attach and removed from the filtered water," explained Ian Bradley, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering. "Knowing that, we asked the question: What if we enhanced this effect by placing magnitudes greater quantities of metal oxides in the biosand filter? Well, we did, and uncovered a way to help millions more outside of Socorro."
Current research at Illinois has shown that the incorporation of zero-valent iron in the form of steel wool, a product available commercially across the world, including Guatemala, can remove better than 99.999% of viruses in water, beating even United States Environmental Protection Agency standards. The iron oxidizes (rusts), forming positively charged oxides to which negatively charged viruses attach. Because of the water chemistry, the iron doesn’t re-enter the water and the user never tastes the iron in the filtered water. The only end result is a cleaner, safer drinking water.
Earlier this year, EWB-UIUC won $76,000 in funding to continue this research and to begin the transition of bringing the iron-amended biosand filters from the lab to end-users.
"We will return to Socorro in December to evaluate the effects of the previously implemented biosand filters on the people’s health and to begin initial onsite investigations of iron-amended biosand filters utilizing site-specific water," Maraccini said. "Bringing relief to Socorro has always been our main focus. We have already worked with them to make significant improvements, but more can be done.
"With the iron-amended biosand filter, EWB-UIUC can help more than the 450 people of Socorro; we can help the approximately three million current users of the biosand filter elsewhere, an impact started at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and reaching across the world."
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Article editors/Contact: Kimberly Parker and Ofelia Romero, Engineers Without Borders.
Photos: Alyssa Sohn, Kimberly Parker, and Ofelia Romero.
If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, Engineering Communications Office, 217/244-7716, editor.