Photograph by Loic Brohard
UQ students engineer cleaner future for Cambodia
By Su-Yin Chan
A team of University of Queensland engineering students are developing a latrine and waste management system for the water-based community of Cambodia’s Tonlé Sap Lake.
Latrinology Tech comprising of Stephen Andersen, Alice Bullock, Craig Hogan and Brooke Marshall became involved through their engineering programs and Engineers Without Borders(EWB) based at the St Lucia campus.
Although the Tonlé Sap is Southeast Asia’s largest fresh water lake, two-thirds of Cambodia’s population do not have access to safe drinking water.
According to chemical engineering student Stephen Andersen, there is a serious need for adequate sanitation with about 74 per cent of all deaths in Cambodia related to waterborne diseases.
“We hope to contribute a low cost means of capturing human waste before they enter the water supply. Thereby, destroying the pathogens and reducing the overall exposure of intestinal parasites in the daily lives of the community,” said Mr Andersen.
EWB Challenge Coordinator Anh Tran said that working with students, who hadn’t been in the real workforce, meant their ideas were innovative and genuine.
The team’s proposed latrine and waste management system aims to utilise waste as biogas for cooking and lighting, and compost for agriculture, so there is more incentive to maintain and use the system.
After analysing existing land-based latrine designs, the team has chosen the single-vaulted, ventilated pit latrine, which requires oxygen to break down waste.
As chemical engineering student Alice Bullock explained, the design would capture waste below a squat hole, and once the vault was full, would be replaced by an empty one.
“The full vault is left to compost for around seven months, after which it contains useful compost that is free from pathogens,” said Ms Bullock.
If the team’s proposed design is successful, the challenge will be how to work with the local community to use the technology, according to Peter Oliver, Senior lecturer at the International WaterCentre.
“If a floating latrine can be designed and trialled, and it was practical, and it worked. What can I say? That will be a great thing.”
The students’ final design will be completed by the end of this year with a prototype planned to be built by Engineers Without Borders in Cambodia in 2010.
A team of University of Queensland engineering students are developing a latrine and waste management system for the water-based community of Cambodia’s Tonlé Sap Lake.
Latrinology Tech comprising of Stephen Andersen, Alice Bullock, Craig Hogan and Brooke Marshall became involved through their engineering programs and Engineers Without Borders(EWB) based at the St Lucia campus.
Although the Tonlé Sap is Southeast Asia’s largest fresh water lake, two-thirds of Cambodia’s population do not have access to safe drinking water.
According to chemical engineering student Stephen Andersen, there is a serious need for adequate sanitation with about 74 per cent of all deaths in Cambodia related to waterborne diseases.
“We hope to contribute a low cost means of capturing human waste before they enter the water supply. Thereby, destroying the pathogens and reducing the overall exposure of intestinal parasites in the daily lives of the community,” said Mr Andersen.
EWB Challenge Coordinator Anh Tran said that working with students, who hadn’t been in the real workforce, meant their ideas were innovative and genuine.
The team’s proposed latrine and waste management system aims to utilise waste as biogas for cooking and lighting, and compost for agriculture, so there is more incentive to maintain and use the system.
After analysing existing land-based latrine designs, the team has chosen the single-vaulted, ventilated pit latrine, which requires oxygen to break down waste.
As chemical engineering student Alice Bullock explained, the design would capture waste below a squat hole, and once the vault was full, would be replaced by an empty one.
“The full vault is left to compost for around seven months, after which it contains useful compost that is free from pathogens,” said Ms Bullock.
If the team’s proposed design is successful, the challenge will be how to work with the local community to use the technology, according to Peter Oliver, Senior lecturer at the International WaterCentre.
“If a floating latrine can be designed and trialled, and it was practical, and it worked. What can I say? That will be a great thing.”
The students’ final design will be completed by the end of this year with a prototype planned to be built by Engineers Without Borders in Cambodia in 2010.
Tonle Sap Lake is Southeast Asia's largest. During the monsoon season, the lake swells to cover nearly one-fifth of the country.
National Geographic Society © 2005
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