Gravity-Fed Water System for Developing Communities
Example community gravity-fed water system in rural Peru.Copyright 2014 Jeff Walters, University of Colorado Boulder
Students learn about water poverty and how water engineers can develop appropriate solutions to a problem that is plaguing nearly a sixth of the world's population. Students follow the engineering design process to design a gravity-fed water system. They choose between different system parameters such as pipe sizes, elevation differentials between entry and exit pipes, pipe lengths and tube locations to find a design that provides the maximum flow and minimum water turbidity (cloudiness) at the point of use. In this activity, students play the role of water engineers by designing and building model gravity-fed water systems, learning the key elements necessary for viable projects that help improve the lives people in developing communities.
Water and hydrological engineers play a large role in addressing water poverty through the creation of appropriate technologies to provide water to developing communities. One common solution, given available topographic relief, is the implementation of gravity-fed water systems that pipe water without pumping or requiring costly energy. Typical gravity-fed system designs include a dam or spring catchment to collect the water, and the water is piped via gravity through a number of treatment processes (sedimentation, filtration, chlorination). When the water reaches the community, it is clean and in ample supply. To correctly design gravity-fed water systems requires engineers to have a good understanding of civil engineering, physics and fluid mechanics.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Define water poverty and relate the concept to global issues and the difficulty in providing sustainable solutions.
- Relate the general physics and fluid mechanic theory and principles that allow water to flow by gravity through pipe systems.
- Design and optimize a working gravity-fed water system based on constraints.