Engineering Late ~ ICE London, October 2019
No better moment than the past week to set my blog about Water and sanitation in Africa, just coinciding with the Late Engineering event organised by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and held the past 11th October at their main site in Westminster, London.
More than four hours were given for the curious to explore the endearing building that is the seat of the institution, attend conferences about engineering findings and catch up on the latest new projects worldwide. But although the range of programmed activities was wide, there was an undeniable subject governing most of the rooms: water.
And particularly, a perception of water in underdeveloped regions (because well, engineering is about solving problems!)... And, in case you were wondering, yes, of course Africa was mentioned.
The interesting thing here is that when it comes to water, and at the same time it comes to engineering, the resulting thought is, usually and unavoidably, projects directly related to water supply or treatment. Dams, pipelines, wastewater treatment plants or marine platforms are some of the ideas that usually come to our mind. But it is interesting to note that the world of civil engineering goes further beyond (if possible) when talking about water. It is not only the main constructions, the main objects carrying or storing or circulating water. It’s also the roads that allow access to water sources, the structure of the cities in relation to water acquisition, and for sure the financial and political issues involved. “There are huge logistical challenges in supplying fresh drinking water. Large distances, rough road conditions and dangerous environments can prevail” (ICE).
In addition to explanations on how water could be drawn in challenging environments, a post featuring the work of the Royal Engineers also provided some data about the latests projects in Africa. In 2018, among other actions a 200-metre borehole was drilled through granite ground to supply water in Kenya. As it is informed, this kind of solution not only reduces the martyrdom to which many families are doomed every day in order to acquire a not even enough quantity of water, but also reduces plastic use.
Located in the east of Africa, Kenia has a special importance regarding handpumping in water supply, as the Kwale County, a predominantly rural region, was the first site to deploy the Afridev, a lever-action reciprocating handpump later has been preferred in several African countries (Foster et. al., 2018). Although the geographical location of water supplies also influences the utility of the resource, with factors such as salinity or depth of the static water level (Foster et. al. 2018), by the moment this handpump has been a good solution in some placements, as it can reach 1350 litres of water per hour and it's easy to install and maintain (SKI). Almost 184 million people in sub-saharan Africa rely on handpumps on a domestic level (see figure 1). Standardization of their implementation began in the 1980s, and today they include models such as India Mark II, India Mark III, Kardia, Nira, Vergnet and Volanta, in addition to Afridev (MacArthur, 2015).
More than four hours were given for the curious to explore the endearing building that is the seat of the institution, attend conferences about engineering findings and catch up on the latest new projects worldwide. But although the range of programmed activities was wide, there was an undeniable subject governing most of the rooms: water.
And particularly, a perception of water in underdeveloped regions (because well, engineering is about solving problems!)... And, in case you were wondering, yes, of course Africa was mentioned.
The interesting thing here is that when it comes to water, and at the same time it comes to engineering, the resulting thought is, usually and unavoidably, projects directly related to water supply or treatment. Dams, pipelines, wastewater treatment plants or marine platforms are some of the ideas that usually come to our mind. But it is interesting to note that the world of civil engineering goes further beyond (if possible) when talking about water. It is not only the main constructions, the main objects carrying or storing or circulating water. It’s also the roads that allow access to water sources, the structure of the cities in relation to water acquisition, and for sure the financial and political issues involved. “There are huge logistical challenges in supplying fresh drinking water. Large distances, rough road conditions and dangerous environments can prevail” (ICE).
In addition to explanations on how water could be drawn in challenging environments, a post featuring the work of the Royal Engineers also provided some data about the latests projects in Africa. In 2018, among other actions a 200-metre borehole was drilled through granite ground to supply water in Kenya. As it is informed, this kind of solution not only reduces the martyrdom to which many families are doomed every day in order to acquire a not even enough quantity of water, but also reduces plastic use.
Located in the east of Africa, Kenia has a special importance regarding handpumping in water supply, as the Kwale County, a predominantly rural region, was the first site to deploy the Afridev, a lever-action reciprocating handpump later has been preferred in several African countries (Foster et. al., 2018). Although the geographical location of water supplies also influences the utility of the resource, with factors such as salinity or depth of the static water level (Foster et. al. 2018), by the moment this handpump has been a good solution in some placements, as it can reach 1350 litres of water per hour and it's easy to install and maintain (SKI). Almost 184 million people in sub-saharan Africa rely on handpumps on a domestic level (see figure 1). Standardization of their implementation began in the 1980s, and today they include models such as India Mark II, India Mark III, Kardia, Nira, Vergnet and Volanta, in addition to Afridev (MacArthur, 2015).
Figure 1 Estimated quantity of installed handpumps and % of the population reliant on them (MacArthur, 2015)
Attending the Late Engineering this week has made me more convinced of that the importance of potable water not only relies on the physical amount of it. In its sanitation lots of other factors are involved, such as the proper installation of pumps to access it, their placement geological features, the efficiency of roads, and in general a global, always global perspective of who is affected by the problem and what, among the very actions that we are able to perform, could solve it.
This is very interesting as you draw attention to less obvious infrastructure in regards to water such as roads. I would also be curious to know how the structure of cities either facilitates or impedes water acquisition in different regions!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your comment. The point that you mention is interesting as well, in fact I suggest you to take a look at my last posts, "Sliding to the slum", which talk about the problem of water sanitation in regions with informal settlements.
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