Executive Summary Every year, over 7,000 students across the UK, Ireland, Australia and in recent years, USA and South Africa embark on a design challenge from Engineering Without Borders. This year, The EWB challenge was to design and create an outcome to better or improve the lives of the residents of Piedritas & Lobitos in Peru. Piedritas & Lobitos are small towns located in the North-Western border of Peru. The communities have a combined population of 1,700 residents which include; Fisherman, Tourists, Oil extractors, Surfers and many more. Both towns are parted by a city, Talara, the source for many essentials such as Water, electricity and other supplies but in turn the main entry point for tourists who are a valuable contribution to the ecosystem in Peru. Tourists make up 30% of the population in Lobitos in which 14% of residents live in Poverty. However, in Piedritas, 75% of the entire population live in poverty due to a rise in unemployment and services including, clean, piped drinking water. The task presented 8 areas in which we can investigate with a look to improve the lifestyle in Lobitos or Piedritas. After examination of all 8 areas, a topic which stood out and drew our attention was the water section. The residents water supply is very unreliable. The supply can be down for 2/3 hours per day, for 3 days of the week. In Addition to this, the piped water cannot be drunk and must be boiled first to ensure personal safety. This requires more energy that some do not have the financial capacity for. Other residents’ resort to filling clear bottles of water and leaving them on rooves to bake. However, this may take hours or even days to ensure the water is safe to consume. The only other option is to buy bottled water but the high prices, paired with the rise in poverty has made this a luxury most residents cannot afford. With a demand for access to free, sanitised water, we created our solution -UVH2GO. UVH2GO is a water filtration and sterilization unit optimized for the locations within Lobitos & Piedritas using a majority of resources they have an abundance of. The product utilizes the Ultraviolet-Light and scorching temperatures from the sun’s rays to sterilize the water. Why spend hours or days waiting for your water to bake in the heat on the sun when the process could be carried out in 45 minutes to an hour? The reflective parabolic dish directs the suns rays to heat a heating sphere at the focal point where it can reach temperatures of over 60 degrees Celsius which reduces the 8 hour baking time to under an hour. But before the water flows through the system, it passes through a Natural mechanical filter, which aids in removing sediment and particulates, resulting in sources such as sea-water can be sterilized and filtered to a point where it is safe for consumption. That is free water, filtered and sterilized for all to drink, cook with, shower with, etc. This is a community centred product, designed to ensure all residents of Piedritas & Lobitos have access to safe water, a commodity many people around the world take for granted. All that is required is users bring the amount of water they intend to withdraw from the system. This creates a cycle where the users replenish the water they withdraw. The system requires a moderator which will ensure the valve is turned on/off at the correct times, the system is functioning along with the need for maintenance which will bring employment for a few residents and with potential for expansion, the unemployment rate will reduce. In Peru… (EWB 2021)
And In towns such as such as Lobitos and Piedritas, the situations are even worse. (Ecoswell 2021)
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