finalproject

__**Problem **__ Water is the most essential survival need. Yet, majority of the population in the third world countries do not have access to it. The shortage of purified drinking water and clean water for other uses is very common in the third world countries. Also, they do not have the technology that is required to improve the water system which leaves them with insanitary water. Besides, availability of clean water is also an issue. In the third world countries, since water is not readily available, people have to walk miles and carry heavy burdens to acquire uncontaminated water. Hence, the effort that people have to put in order to access sanitary water forces them to settle for contaminated water. The issue contaminated water in the third world countries have brought about the deaths of millions of the people caused by the diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera, and malaria. Thus, they need a simple, cheap and effective water filtering system that will give them access to purified water for drinking and for other uses. At the same time it would provide them with a healthier life and reduce the diseases and save millions of lives.

__**Inspiration **__ Initially, our inspiration to fuse the Life Straw and Q Drum came from our personal experiences. Both members of our group come from a third world country therefore, we know how difficult it is to have access to sanitary water, whether for drinking or for other uses. Furthermore, the inspiration for the fusion came from the number of deaths occurring every year in the third world countries due to the lack of access to purified water. The contaminated water is causing disease which eventually leads to deaths of millions of people. Hence, a product that is a combination of both the Life Straw and the Q Drum could prevent people in these countries from dinking and using contaminated water. It could also help them by making their travelling to obtain water and carrying them back easier.

__**Stake-holders/User Group/Target Community **__ The target community would be the population living in the rural areas of the third world countries such as Africa and Bangladesh, who has poor standard of living, and are drinking and using contaminated water which is eventually causing deaths. Also, because these countries do not have proper water infrastructure people do not have access to clean water they want or need. Thus, our goal is to help the rural third world communities by providing them with an affordable and effective water filtering system. This would give them access to clean water as well as make it easier for them to obtain water from the source.

__**Ideation/Design **__ The idea we conceived fuses two products that already exist on the market. - these items are the Q Drum and the Life Straw. Both were created to assist populations in developing countries with ensuring better quality – for the essential resource known as water.

The design we propose is meant to be simple yet effective:

I. Untreated water enters the drum through the opening at the top and passes through a water bucket that acts as a pre-filter to immediately remove particles from the water II. As gravity causes the water to fall downwards it passes through a second filtration system that uses a finer membrane and cartridge to filter out any particles that are remaining- such a debris, parasites or bacteria III. Water is then held within the bottom portion of the drum until it is accessed by the user IV. Once the barrel is emptied the Q Drum can be opened up completely to that the filters along with the compartment can be easily cleansed of the particles that have been collected, before refilling the drum with water


 * The rope used fro rolling/pulling the drum would still be implemented into the design to alleviate the strain of having to carry the vessel

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">__**Sustainability**__ <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">This product is a sustainable design because its components do not have any environmental impacts. We would maintain the integrity of the drum- using durable but low-density polyethylene (plastic) that is practically indestructible, yet equivalent to most foodstuffs or consumable liquids in terms of it composition. Essentially there are no bi-products or toxins that would have any harmful affects on the environment and it requires little maintenance with the exception of cleaning it, so it would definitely be accessible in terms of affordance for the other 90% of the world