Don't+Worry-+Pringle

Currently there are over 8,000 slums in the crowded city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The surroundings are third world with piles of trash mixed in with dead animal carcasses. The filthy conditions have led to severely contaminated water, in fact Bangladesh has 2nd most polluted water supply in the world. Human fecal matter and meat packing industry by product have been found in the water along with deadly arsenic. There is local authority resistance amongst the city cops who feel that the trash is a part of life and do not see it as a problem. Following the Mad Cow Disease crisis meat and bone meal was announced illegal as animal feed in 2001. The practice consists of mashing the gut, bone, and flesh remains from long dead fish and other animals which are then added to animal feed. However practice is very much still widespread throughout much of Bangladesh. The contaminated water can lead to severe diarrhea, parasites, and death. Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) said they are producing 160 to 165 liters of water a day against a demand of 205 liters, WASA officials said, which is about 25 percent less than demand. This shows that even the clean water they are producing is not meeting the demands on a minimal level allowance. The solution is jute, burlap like material that is very easy to grow. Bangladesh is the world’s largest exporter of jute, making it feasible to produce large amounts at inexpensive cost relative to fabrics. The application of the jute would be in communal or personal water filters. Jute is a proven filtering agent used in air filter however currently no applications for water have been used. In a previous class IED my group and I were able to prove after prototyping and testing that jute is a solid filter. When combined with other methods such as UV-C Bangladesh can start to tackle their water crisis. To generate electricity to run the UV-C bulb applications such as crank generators offer sustainable mechanical energy solution with minimal maintenance.