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Water testing device could save lives in developing countries

October 06, 2000

Young engineer Richard Brown has won a national award for an invention which could save lives in developing countries.
Richard, 22, who graduated from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne earlier this year in Civil and Environmental Engineering, has created a simple device for testing whether water supplies contain dangerous levels of bacteria.
It is estimated that three to five million child deaths per year result from diarrhoea-related diseases, many of which are caused by bacteria such as E-coli and cholera in drinking water.
Richard, won the Lindapter Award in a competition for students and graduates, who submit written papers describing their projects. He will be presented with a trophy and cash prize by the competition organisers, the Institution of Civil Engineers, at a ceremony in London in November.
The normal method of testing water is to place a small sample in a plastic dish containing a special nutrient which feeds any bacteria. If the dish is kept warm in an incubator, the bacteria will multiply and can be counted from the spots which appear in the dish after about 18 hours. Too many spots mean the water is a danger to health.
The problem is that commercial incubators run on electricity, which is not available in rural areas of developing countries. Also, the cost of buying an incubator is the equivalent of about three years’ local wages.
Richard’s ‘Low-Cost Incubator’ can be built from local materials. The dish containing the sample of drinking water is placed in a plastic box surrounded by warm water, which is thermally insulated by blocks of expanded polystyrene. The whole device fits neatly into a large wooden box.
The warm water is kept at exactly the right temperature by pouring boiling water into the incubator through a tube every three hours. Richard has tested the device thoroughly and says it is every bit as good as an electric incubator, maintaining an ideal temperature to within half a degree Celsius.
Richard was inspired to start work on the device during a trip to the village of Ekumfi Atakwa in Ghana, where a group of Newcastle students were designing and building a library as part of their course.
‘I realised that drinking water was a huge problem in countries where there is poor sanitation,’ said Richard. ‘I wanted to carry out some tests on the local water but realised we simply did not have the laboratory facilities.
‘I bought a bucket from the local market and used foam from local bedding material to build a makeshift incubator. It seemed to work , so I thought it would be a good idea to develop it from there.’
‘I thought the idea would be laughed at when I returned to the laboratory at Newcastle University - but everyone thought it was great and my tutor was very keen on developing the idea.’
‘I have had many sleepless nights getting up every three hours to pour boiling water into the incubator to test it - it was a bit like having a baby but it was definitely worthwhile.’
Richard’s tutor, Dr Tom Curtis, said: ‘This is a brilliant example of a young fresh mind seeing a solution that has evaded more experienced engineers or scientists who were blinded by pre-conceived ideas of the answer.
‘What is particularly refreshing and important is that Richard sees his idea as not just a device for measuring water quality but as a tool to promote dialogue between the engineer and the community in countries like Ghana.’

Newcastle upon Tyne, University of