Environmental sustainability and resilience, Social cohesion, Health and wellbeing, Economic prosperity for all
Photo showing a point of use UV-C Water Treatment Unit at Dufile Health Center III, Moyo District, Uganda.
What is the societal challenge?
According to JMP, a WHO/UNICEF program, over 20 million Ugandans do not have access to a safe drinking water source and 2.15 million still rely on unsafe, surface water sources such as open wells, surface runoff and streams which puts them at a high risk of contracting waterborne diseases.
Many schools rely on purifying water by boiling over a fire, requiring significant time to collect or extra money to purchase firewood. This produces daily exposure to smoke that is harmful for the children’s respiratory heath and is not always adequate for providing safe water as at times children still consume untreated water. Moreover 50% of the healthcare centres surveyed by African STEM Education Initiative (ASEI) in Kyegegwa district did not treat their water for patients in any way. The need in both cases was for a reliable long-lasting water treatment system that would ensure sufficient safe treated water was accessible.
Impact category*
Project leads
Andrew Dansic, Academic Lead, Humanitarian Engineering, UNSW
Moses Alicwamu, Water Program Manager, ASEI Uganda
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In the last two-years, Faculty of Engineering’s Humanitarian Engineering students have worked with Gulu University and ASEI to provide safe drinking water to schools and healthcare facilities in Northern and Western Uganda.
ASEI is a Ugandan based social enterprise founded in 2020 by Gulu University alumni from the Faculty of Agriculture and Environment to upskill young people in Uganda in science and technology and promote transformative innovation in renewables, education, and the water sector. Since its inception, ASEI has mentored 500+ students in two secondary schools, installed water treatment units at two healthcare centres each with an average of 250 daily patient visits, and had staff collaborate with Gulu University and UNSW to deploy solar powered UV-C water treatment units at two schools and a healthcare facility in Moyo and Gulu districts of Northern Uganda.
UNSW’s Humanitarian Engineering program facilitates undergraduate students to support and learn from real world partners working on humanitarian challenges. A project such as this provides a pathway for students to take their theory and hone their practical skills from the class to the field.
In the field set up, the bio-filter design was built and connected in series with a UV-C reactor powered through a 12V/20Ah solar DC electricity. This was deployed at two schools and one healthcare facility in Moyo and Gulu districts. In perfect use scenarios, the systems deliver water with <1 NTU turbidity and achieve a greater than 3-log reduction in microorganisms all of which meet WHO recommendations for safe drinking water.
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The UV-C Water Treatment Unit at Dufile Health Centre III in Moyo District reaches 250 people in a week while the ones at Masaloa Primary School Moyo and Hilder Primary School in Gulu supply drinking water to 464 and 560 pupils respectively.
“We have successfully installed our first unit at a primary school near Gulu city to enable us to conduct some field monitoring that is not far away from the University campus. At this primary school, they have been using firewood to boil water for the children. This installation saves them not only the cost of the firewood but also conserves the environment.” (Dr. Jimmy Byakatonda at Gulu University)
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- Moses Alicwamu - ASEI
- Andrew Dansie – Humanitarian Engineering (UNSW)
- Gulu University
*impact categories represent complex and overlapping opportunities to achieve societal impact. UNSW’s definition may evolve and change based on insights gathered during the Societal Impact Framework consultations and further research.
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