Dr. Jennifer L. Dawson
Assistant Professor
Mechanical Engineering
York College of Pennsylvania
York, PA 17403
Kinsley Engineering Center 106
Phone: 717-815-1520
Fax: 717-849-1621
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Dr. Jennifer L. DawsonAssistant ProfessorMechanical EngineeringYork College of PennsylvaniaYork, PA 17403 Kinsley Engineering Center 106 Phone: 717-815-1520 Fax: 717-849-1621 |
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Sanitation Project - GhanaIn September 2009, I joined a team from the York area to serve the community of Apam, Ghana. The two-week trip was sponsored by Building Solid Foundations, a nonprofit organization working to improve the standard of living in rural Ghana. During the trip, a team of doctors and nurses performed 220 surgeries and treated approximately 1,200 patients in an outpatient clinic. Team members helped to plant crops and teach local farmers more productive agricultural techniques. A team of teachers worked in a school to install a library with books provided through a Rotarty Club grant. They also did teacher training and distributed school supplies to students. Finally, I worked with a team to install a sewage treatment system at Apam Catholic Hospital. |
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Before we installed the sewage treatment system, Apam Catholic Hospital had a system of open ditches which drained into a field just below the hospital (shown below). Patients and their families would walk through the sewage before entering the hospital wards, which impacted patient health. When our team arrived in Ghana we began by determining where we would run the sewage lines. We then surveyed the site to determine the elevation of the land at points along the pipeline. Next, I performed design calculations to determine how deep we needed to dig to install the sewage lines. The design problem had several constraints: the pipe needed to be at a constant slope despite variations in ground elevation; all points along the pipeline were required to be at least 18 inches below grade; and the dig depth needed to be minimized as it is dangerous to dig narrow ditches more than about 7 feet deep. Four spreadsheets later, we generated the plot shown below which shows the pipe at a constant slope despite varying ground elevation. I also created a schematic of the hospital grounds showing the final pipeline with the calculated dig depths at various locations.
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design work was completed, we began digging trenches to install the
pipe. We used a backhoe to dig 1,300 ft of trenches ranging in
depth from 1.5 ft to 6.8 ft, as determined by the design calculations.
We installed 4 in and 6 in diameter, schedule 40 PVC pipe.
Approximately every 60 ft we installed vertical clean outs which are
used for system maintenance. To test the pipeline, we stationed
members of the team at each of the vertical cleanouts and then we poured
water dyed with Betadine at the top of the system (shown below).
As the water passed by each cleanout, team members cheered! The
water took approximately 7 minutes to travel from the Sister's Convent
at the top of the system to the treatment tanks at the bottom.
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Pouring water into the top of the pipeline
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Team members at cleanouts waiting for the water to arrive
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Dr. Bob Davis cheering the arrival of the water
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Construction team celebrating a successful test of the pipeline
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While part of the team worked on the pipeline, others moved the four
tanks comprising the sewage treatment system and installed them on
concrete pads (shown below). The treatment system is manufactured
by Cromaglass of Williamsport,
PA. Cromaglass donated half the cost of the system and sent two
engineers to Ghana to perform the installation and testing. The
only byproduct of the Cromaglass system is water that can be used
for irrigation. It was necessary to run a new electrical line to
the treatment site and subsequent testing was conducted to ensure the
system's pumps and sensors worked properly. The system is
connected to the hospital's internet, allowing Cromaglass to monitor the
system from Williamsport and advise the hospital staff on maintenance
and repair procedures.
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Moving a tank using a tractor
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Final step of moving the tank onto its concrete pad
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This project was challenging and rewarding. Each day we faced
obstacles, whether it was language barriers, a backhoe requiring
maintenence,
difficulty in obtaining additional PVC pipe components, or wheelchairs
and gurneys needing to pass through our work zone. Despite the
set-backs, our team worked cooperatively and supportively to achieve
remarkable results in only 12 days. The people of Apam showed
us extraordinary hospitality and dedicatedly partnered with us in all of
our work. I am deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to
travel to Ghana, to contribute to the project, and to build
relationships with such warm and gracious people.
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