The University of Idaho Argonaut

The Maasai Elder at the SIMOO site Olisho village rests behind his hut March 2. The village is located two hours outside of Nairobi in the Great Rift Valley at the base of the Gnong Hills. -Courtesy Photo

Maasai culture is based on the well-being of their livestock, and water problems are a primary concern. While this has been a particularly wet and rainy season, that has not always been the case. Often the Massai need to travel great distances to take their livestock to water, risking their lives in the process.

University of Idaho teams are made up three students per team in mechanical and biological systems engineering. Their research is part of their capstone project. This year the current teams took over the projects, which were initiated in 2005.
The two teams, Clearwater-Aid and H2Oasis, have worked to develop simple models of water filtration and storage facilities that can be built by the Maasai out of cheap and local resources.

While H2Oasis collected data on the trip to design a system of water storage, team Clearwater-Aid was concerned with creating a filtration system to help clear-up the water. Rather than bringing along a predetermined model, the team brought ideas for several models and decided the best one in the field. Specifications for the filter were stringent — the filter was held to the same standards as any high-quality filter, it had to reliably produce clean water free of all harmful viruses, chemicals, organisms and particulate.

“We quickly realized that’s the one,” said Whitney Menzel, mechanical engineering senior who traveled to Kenya. “All they need is a couple barrels, some PVC pipe and some tubing.”
The team was able to begin construction of their models in the field, and began to teach the Maasai how the filtration system could be built.

The construction and design of the filtration system is simple. It’s called a “slow sand filter,” and consists of a column filled with sand that slowly filters out sediment as the water passes downward through the sand. A layer of microbial “scum” lines one layer of the filter and helps filter out particulates. This layer takes some time to grow, so the filter was not entirely completed by the group. However, Menzel is positive about the outcome of the model and said they could have working filters “within the next few months.”

Before filtration, the water must be treated with a coagulant that helps the particles in the water settle to the bottom. The agent the team found useful was ground moringa seed, a plant that grows in the region and can be cultivated for the purpose.

“This is an ancient filtration system,” Menzel said. “We’re just expanding it to help people get clean water.”
Team H2Oasis was able to use the trip to collect data and begin to lay down the basis for design and construction, which may begin next year.

Traveling to the region also proved how important the students’ work is to the Maasai.
Kristina Beaulieu, a senior in biological and agricultural engineering described their workplace as being “like something out of National Geographic.”

“They mostly had cattle and goats,” she said. “But they can go from having 100 cattle one season to five.”
Beaulieu said that while the water storage project is still laying down groundwork, the project has made a great deal of headway and may have something in the form of a working system soon.

“Depending on how next year’s team goes they might be able to have something next summer,” she said.
The program has been funded since 2005 by their client Eric Morris, a businessman formerly with Boeing who now works with groups in Africa.