Sustainable Water Filter
Clean water is not always obtainable in the Greater Toronto Area, especially in indigenous communities. In my Engineering Strategies and Practice II (APS112) class, my team was assigned to create a short-term solution for sustainable water filtration servicing the GTA, working with a real client.
Design
During our research, we studied current brands on the market and tailored our design to their shortcomings—affordability and recyclability. Our design ideas revolved around compostable materials since they would be used in rural areas and reusable containers to store filtered water.
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To the right is my design alternative based on a Brita/Lifestraw combination lid and a Hydroflask, a typical water bottle.
Final Design
Similar to a tea strainer, our final design consisted of a reusable container with extendable arms, allowing the user to fit the contraption upon a cup of any diameter up to about 20cm. In parallel with the use of coffee pods, a filter pod would be placed within the contraption, and the user would be able to filter water. We recommended a secondary chemical treatment for rural communities before physically filtering the water to ensure drinkability.
Testing
In this class, we take our conceptual designs a step further and do rough prototyping. My team bought supplies and used a plastic water bottle as our holder, testing solutions with decreasing micron ratings. These tests included solutions with powdered sugar, silt from a local river, mustard, and clay.
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The prototyping on the right is the mustard water getting poured through, and clear water was filtered out. Even though the water was clear to the naked eye, it still had microparticles.
