Incorporating sustainability and adaptation
Introduction:
Mayukwayukwa is a refugee settlement in Zambia that is home to over 11,000 refugees (Engineers Without Border, 2016). The town was established in 1966 and relies on diesel generators to power there boring devices (1). However, these generators only run for a few hours a day leaving the community to hand pump for the remainder of their water supply. The design that is proposed in the design section of the report will function all day and through the night to combat this issue. This report will also demonstrate how climate change is an issue related to sustainability. It will demonstrate how these issues are incorporated into the design of the project for the people of Mayukwayukwa.
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However, the generators only run for a few hours a day due to insufficient funds for diesel. During the time the generators are not running the staff have to walk to the closest borehole to collect the water for use (Engineers Without Border, 2016). This is where the design could be integrated into the community. Implementing solar, and wind boring systems running simultaneously to bore the water in to tank storage facilities. This solution runs without labour and without the need for fossil fuels. This would mean, a constant supply of water for the health clinic. This allows the nurses to focus on the patients rather than retrieving water.
Possible sustainable measures to be incorporated into the design:
Table 1:
Environmental:
Social:
Economic:
1. Minimum environmental footprint (including embedded energy)
1. Efficient and effective
2. Discrete
1. Benefits to outweigh the cost
2. Low cost over time
The following paragraph explains how the design is influenced by the triple bottom line - shown in table 1 – to promote sustainability.
The design is environmentally sustainable as none of the material required to build these systems are wood, eliminating the factor of deforestation. Also, the design eliminates the need for fossil fuel generators, mitigating the ongoing cost to the community to supply diesel to the generators. This is one of the reasons why the design is economically sustainable. Alternate reasoning is the design cost nothing to maintain
The small community of Pikangikum in Northern Ontario, for whom we were raising money to provide half a house with drinkable water, is not served by the Ontario electric grid. It relies on diesel generators for its power. The provision of water is dependent on electric pumps and heaters.
If water amount collected increases or decreases, the catchment bottles can be changed and altered for size. As there is a range for the grain size of materials, there is some room of altering if the materials are for any reason, unavailable. The flexibility of the design allows for adaptation if required. The materials chosen are easily accessible, safe and hygienic once filter is cleaned. The small, yet efficient size of the design allows for portability, and can be used indoors in the case of a cyclone or unsuitable weather conditions. The device is designed with the local culture and geography in mind; primarily consisting of recyclable plastic bottles and grains from Vanuatu. As chemicals are excluded in the design, the materials are familiar appropriate, simple to use and will encourage the community to filter their water. The construction and maintenance can be easily taught to and performed by locals, both men and women. This design is flexible and can cater for different situations including material availability and
10 points One word can be used to describe the most prominent factor in Green Chemistry and Sustainability. What is that word? Why is it so prominate?
The approach of cutting edge water pumping frameworks has given homes, modern processing plants, healing facilities, and numerous different business or open foundation awesome straightforwardness and solace in their every day water needs and utilization.
Dig a borehole. Since the company is in a rural place, the can decide to dig a long term borehole that will address the high usage of water used in the production of goods.
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The Zambian Refugee Settlement in Mayukwayukwa, which established by the United Nations in 1966, currently has no system for harvesting rain water or for storing water in bulk. Zambia has a monsoonal climate thus it receives all of its rain water in one small section of the year and is dry and arid for the rest. This review will focus specifically on the water usage of the refugee settlement. This area of research will prove to be invaluable for the specifications of the water harvesting and bulk storage system as it will be the basis for which the required volumes of water are calculated. The development of the Mayukwayukwa settlement will be stunted if they do not have access to sufficient amounts of water for the refugees who live there or for the crops and animals.
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