Daniel Ma

Date of Award

5-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (BS)

Department

Engineering

First Advisor

Ray Knepper

Abstract

VWOS has had the privilege of working with Full Gospel Assemblies Bible College (FGABC) since September 2017 to design a water treatment system to meet the drinking water needs of the school. The Bible College currently purchases 50,000 L bottled drinking water for approximately 150 people for an annual cost of 230,000 rupees (or approximately $1,600 as of 2019 currency exchange rates). To our knowledge the bottled drinking water is safe to consume; we verified the arsenic levels are well under World Health Organization limits. While the bottled water currently purchased is safe, Village Water Ozonation Systems (VWOS) was asked to devise an alternate means of providing safe drinking water to FGABC. We understand the scope of this project is to develop a solution that will provide potable water and offer financial savings to FGABC. Namely, the system will be required to have an annual operating and maintenance cost of less than $1,600. The team gathered water quality information from various sources on site and determined that E. coli and arsenic were the primary contaminants of concern. Because VWOS has not designed water treatment systems to handle arsenic before, we conducted research on various arsenic removal options. Our most up to date design has been completed as of May 2019. The updated design consists of a process train that includes filtration, arsenic removal, and UV disinfection. We have identified several key aspects of maintenance that must be performed to ensure this system operates as intended. The bottom line is that this system has an annual cost less than the current annual drinking water cost. While we have designed a functional system that meets the financial targets, the team is still in the process of evaluating further options, including reverting back to our trademark Village Water Ozonation System design with some modifications to provide arsenic treatment. As of May 2019, the current VWOS Pakistan team is graduating and the project will either be placed on hold or continued by new VWOS team members in the following academic year. The redesign will be a priority task and an updated cost estimate, maintenance manual, and parts list will be included among the future deliverables of the project.

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