UI Students Take on Polluted Drinking Water in Kenya to Bolster U.N. World Water Day Goals

Jennifer Miller shows members of the Maasai Tribe how the seeds of the Moringa tree filter turbidity from muddy waters.

Recognizing that our lives would be impossible without water, the United Nations established the international World Water Day on March 23, to highlight water's importance for health, biodiversity and environment, agriculture and energy.

At the University of Idaho, a student team was searching for a capstone design project, a requirement of senior engineering students for graduation. Looking at possibilities, Boeing retiree Eric Morris of Seattle entered the picture and challenged the UI team to address the problems set forth by the U.N. and in particular the scarcity of safe drinking water in third world countries, and focusing on East Africa.

Morris is now traveling to Kenya annually and working with people living in the slums and nomadic tribes. Morris said all population levels are affected by the lack of pure drinking water, with infants and children younger than 5 the hardest hit. In this group alone, the mortality rate reaches 7 percent.

Back in the lab team members Nate Cooper, Jenn Miller, Michelle LeBaron and Cami Johnson duplicate Kenya's contaminated water conditions to further test and refine the purification processes. The UI student design team took on the challenge to design a bio-filter that must be able to remove all contaminants, both biological and other natural particulates, without the use of electrical power. The filter construction also had to be adapted to local materials and meet cultural customs. The problem was multifaceted and a solution required expertise in many areas.

Nate Cropper, Jenn Miller and Sam Creason, mechanical engineering students, under the direction of mechanical engineering professor, Don Elger, took on the design of the physical apparatus that needed to be inexpensive, could filter water for small groups or families, and be easily carried by nomadic groups.

Michelle Lebaron and Cami Johnson, biological systems engineering students researched different bacteria and viruses common in Africa’s water. With the help of Tom Hess, professor in biological and agricultural engineering, the team identified ways to test for surrogates to these bacteria to verify the filter design.

The team named themselves, "Clearwater Idaho Aid," inspired in part by the pristine water found locally in Idaho’s majestic rivers and in part because they recognized the tremendous humanitarian need in this desperate third world country.

Brainstorming produced many ideas and finally one prototype design. After many laboratory tests, the group realized the next step was on-site testing and Miller was designated as the person to travel to Africa under the guidance of the experienced Morris. Raising her own money for the trip and arranging class work to be completed ahead of time, Miller departed the U.S. mid-February.

The duo first tested the filter with the Maasai tribe in Ngong Hills outside of Nairobi, Kenya. As problems arose in the purity of the filtered water, a quick email was sent back to the team at UI. Team members set about tweaking and testing the ingredients in the filtering process and then sent the suggestions back to Africa.

A main ingredient adjustment called for the increase of Moringa seeds, which are used as a coagulant aid and available locally in Kenya. Adding additional time for the seeds to set in the test water reduced the turbidity of the liquid to a fraction of the former tests. The joy of seeing clear water being produced from mud holes swept through the tribe. The tribe elders were claiming the process was magic and were eager to be involved in the process.

The filter prototype was left with SIMOO, the Simba Maasai Outreach Organization in Africa and Miller returned to the UI with first-hand experience and innovative views of how the team can further refine and redesign the unit. With fresh new approaches, the team is hard at work building an improved filter to complete the capstone project and further advance the quality of drinking water for the populations of Africa.

April 5, 2006

College of Engineering

UI Students Take on Polluted Drinking Water in Kenya to Bolster U.N. World Water Day Goals