Team:UGent Belgium/Integrated Practices
Human Practices
As the purpose of our project was to contribute to a solution to the growing water shortage problem, we started delving into the literature, contacted experts in the various fields (3D printing, atmospheric water collection, ...) and had frequent brainstorm sessions with the team. We soon realized that the water scarcity problem is bigger than previously thought and generally assumed. It gave us the necessary determination to continue the work with true passion and dedication.
Already from the beginning we had frequent conversations with Prof. Dan Fernandez, a leader in the field of atmospheric water collection. Since he was very enthusiastic about our project & philosophy we were even more convinced that we were right on track. Throughout the course of the project we used his expertise as a guide for the designing and fine tuning of our model. We were also very grateful to get in touch with Deepak Mehta from 3Dee, a major 3D printing company in Belgium. He shared his knowledge on 3D printing with us which led to significant improvements of the collector, more specifically on how the water is drained towards the centre of the shape. During our project we also developed a new type of 3D printing material, but in order to make this into a useable filament, we needed a filament extruder. However, industrial extruders are very unwieldy and out of our reach budget-wise. Luckily, Ali Oğulcan Dülger at Timelab graciously allowed us to use the filament extruder he built, in addition to providing us with useful information on filament extrusion parameters.
As the project went on, and after getting in touch with several humanitarian aid organisations (Rode Kruis-Vlaanderen, Protos, ... ), we had the growing believe that we could influence the lives of millions of people with the dewpal project. The programs of those organisations proof that providing a constant water supply is essential for improving the health, life expectancy and education of those who are born and raised in regions with water scarcity. Nevertheless, the situation in many countries remains very challenging. It happens that the collaborations with local authorities doesn't go without a hitch. Also, when there is no water available locally, it has to be provided via water tankers. This often takes a considerable amount of time and has a high environmental cost. We therefore definitely believe that we have the necessary ingredients (a cheap, small, easy to use & easy to stack device) in our Dewpal recipe to become a game changer in the field of water collection.
Environmental and economical impact
Water scarcity is a major and growing problem worldwide. Around 1900 only 2% of the world population was under chronic water shortage while currently more than 1 billion people suffer from physical water scarcity and a quarter of the human population lack sufficient water due to economical reasons, such as the lack of infrastructure to take water from rivers and aquifers (Kummu et. al, 2010, Water Scarcity. International Decade for Action 'Water for Life' 2005–2015". un.org. Retrieved 20 October 2013).
Additionally, in regions of physical water scarcity the average income per capita is rather low which hinders the development of infrastructures to collect freshwater (for example by filtering seawater) (see following picture).
To improve the life quality of those billions of people, it is essential to create a cheap and efficient device to passively collect freshwater. This is exactly what we did with the Dewpal project: our shape is printed in cheap but sturdy materials resulting in low production costs, especially in mass production. Additionally, the device can be produced locally, if 3D-printers and filament are available or can be provided, reducing environmental and economic costs.
The benefits of the wide use of our dewpal device are huge. Apart from providing easy and cheap access to clean drinking water, the sustainability and development of crops would also benefit enormously which in turn helps the economical situation in those countries. Also, since consuming polluted water and consequent diseases are a major hindrance in education, having access to sufficient clean drinking water will improve the level of education in those areas. The distribution of a cheap device for freshwater collection is a key step in breaking the vicious circle of poverty where billions of people are currently in.
