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EWB Challenge
Design Brief
CONTENTS
Background information to the NEWAH EWB Challenge .................................................................................. 2
Design area 1 Housing and construction ........................................................................................................ 3
Design area 2 Water and Sanitation, Hygiene (WASH) .................................................................................. 5
Design area 3 Energy ...................................................................................................................................... 9
Design area 4 Waste management............................................................................................................... 11
Design area 5 Transport................................................................................................................................ 13
Design area 6 - Information, communications technologies .......................................................................... 15
Design area 7 Climate change ...................................................................................................................... 15
Contact us ........................................................................................................................................................ 19
EWB Challenge Workshop2013: (L-R) Jenny Turner, Hayley Allen, & Siobhan Maxwell from EWB, Kumar Silwal, Bal
Krishna Devkota, Santosh Basnet, Tara Nath Paudel and Saya Kumar Rai from NEWAH
In the hill areas most of the materials for building houses are sourced locally due to a combination of cost
and the difficulty of transporting materials into the communities on rough roads and over steep terrain.
Houses commonly have walls made from mud bricks with mud rendering or stone with smaller stones used
to fill the gaps. When using stone, it is not common for the walls to be rendered after. The roof is typically
made with either thatching or corrugated iron. The floor is generally earthen and rendered with slurry
made from cow dung. The houses are typically two levels with open rooms. The top floor is usually one
room reserved for sleeping and the bottom for cooking and communal areas.
It is common for people to own their own house and land. In village of Sandikhola, most houses are south
facing due to colder climate, and livestock is often stored underneath the house to provide additional heat.
The houses usually consist of large shared rooms with small windows for ventilation, however the common
practice of cooking inside by wood fires, presents various health risks, as the use of chimneys is not
widespread in the area. Most buildings have access to electricity however it can be expensive. There is not
one uniformed housing design used in the area and it is it common to see a variety of building techniques
used even amongst neighbouring residences. The design often depends on the price of materials accessible
to varying income levels in the community, as well as the construction technique of the builder involved.
This includes roofing that can be either slate tiles or thatched material gathered from the forests not
straw. Given the geographical area of Sandikhola, one obstacle when it comes to building new
infrastructure is the lack of space available.
HOUSING AND CONSTRUCTION DESIGN PROJECTS
NEWAH has identified the following housing and design projects. Students are invited to address a single
issue or provide an integrated design solution for two or more design areas. Alternative projects may also
be considered.
1.1 HOUSEHOLD VENTILATION SYSTEM
The houses have few windows to protect the house from the weather however this makes them dark and
the lack of ventilation means that smoke build up from cooking is a health concern. Cooking is primarily
done with wood fireplaces which generate considerable amounts of smoke. Your challenge is to design a
household ventilation system that prevents smoke build up within the home while protecting the
household from the weather.
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Explain measures taken that would help to reduce cost, construction time, and negative
environmental impacts.
Consider factors such as heating and cooling, lighting and the material selection.
Use locally available materials that are culturally acceptable and environmentally friendly.
Utilise volunteers from the community for the construction. This means that the design projects
should include a training package designed to build the capacity of the local volunteers giving them
the required skills for the project.
The cost of the project should be affordable for the community.
NEWAH water focus areas include: drinking water, fog-water, rainwater harvesting (RWH), ground water
capture (GW), gravity fed (GF) water collection techniques (currently ~80% of techniques used).
The availability of water in the hill areas varies with the seasons. The primary waterway remains continual
year round, however it decreases substantially in the dry season. Other sources of water within Sandikhola
include: one smaller waterway, eight tap stands and two newer spring intakes. All are accessible within
close proximity of the majority of households, but become unusable in the dry season due to low pressure.
The natural spring sources in the area are depleting. When water is not available in the village, community
members will collect water from a larger spring further down the hill. Excess runoff water from the tap
stands is collected and used in kitchen gardens to limit waste.
Water tanks have been constructed in the community and rainwater harvesting is increasingly being
explored as collection method. The recently installed rainwater tanks are 20 cubic metres, with spring
intakes and an overflow system. The size of the reservoir tank depends on the number of residents in the
community. With the rainwater harvesting system, one household has installed a first flush device, with a
manual operated valve to release the water collected onto the roof. The rainwater collected from houses
with slate roofs often has a smoky flavour due to the use of wood fire cooking inside the house. For the
construction of the tanks, skilled labourers are brought into the community, however the community
members are involved in the process. Commonly men volunteer to dig the pit where the tank will go and
women will carry the sand, cement and gravel needed for the construction carried on their backs. NEWAH
also provides training to sanitation masons on construction techniques.
The tap stands in the area have been designed to include two heights for different ages to easily access. In
areas of the village that do not have multi-level taps, the design has evolved to include additional support
beams to prevent the taps from breaking with children hang on the tap to get water. Water quality is an
issue however getting testing equipment to the village. The equipment is expensive and needs to be
imported from overseas, which can take up to 6-7 months. Previous water quality testing revealed that
there are high levels of chloroforms in the hills. Another major problem identified in the area in the level of
lime build up in pipes. This calcification of pipes has an impact on the communities access to water.
Access to water has a large impact on sanitation and hygiene practices in the community. Sandikhola is a
self-identified open defecation free (ODF) area and NEWAH has established a Water and Sanitation
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Committee in Sandikhola, which is instrumental in hygiene promotion activities. The committees mandate
is that the responsibility is shared 50/50 between men and woman, with the requirement that women hold
two of the executive positions. Hygiene promotion activities include: safe water from source to mouth
training, promotion of bamboo drying racks, basic cleaning techniques and effective times to wash, how to
dispose of faeces from babies and children hygienically, safe water from the source to the mouth and the
importance of households infesting in building a tap stand. The most difficult thing about hygiene
promotion is obtaining the money for construction of the infrastructure, as the household must cover the
cost.
There is one primary school in the village for grades 1 -3, with approximately 30 students attending. The
schools toilet is currently under construction and will use a septic tank, not a pit. It is common practice that
water needs to be carried from the source to the toilets for sanitation practices. In terms of womens
health, in traditional western districts of Nepal, it is common for women to be sent away during
menstruation periods and have been restricted access to kitchens, temples and other public spaces due to
belief systems. As the school in Sandikhola only has grades 1- 3, the female students have not yet reached
puberty so there has not been a need to address issues associated with menstruation within the schools
facilities. The school in the neighbouring village of Pancha Kanya has recently constructed a sanitation block
that includes a waste disposal and incinerator system that allows girls to dispose of sanitary napkins
discreetly from within the toilet block.
The effect that any chemicals used will have on the environment.
Cultural beliefs and practices of the people living in the community. In particular local spiritual
beliefs associated with water.
Cost associated with implementing any proposal. The proposals should be affordable for the
community.
Consideration for womens privacy
Infrastructure already in place for water and sanitation.
Appropriateness to the local environment and weather
Utilise volunteers from the community for the construction. This means that the design projects
should include a training package designed to build the capacity of the local volunteers giving them
the required skills for the project.
Outdoor wood fired stove commonly used for cooking, Sandikohla, 2013
In the hill areas it is common to use a mix between mains electricity, battery and kerosene lamps. Kerosene
lamps are slowly being replaced and electricity is preferred but can be unreliable. In larger cities, all offices
and restaurants will have diesel-operated generators. Solar energy is also being used commercially,
however has not yet been used on a household level within smaller communities. The desired uses for
electricity include: lights, mobile phone charging, television, and computers - excluding Internet, as it is not
available in Sandikhola. In the hill areas it is also common for households to have television. There is no
electricity in the school in the village and they depend on the windows for light.
For cooking firewood is still used and is sourced from community forests, where community allocations are
established. Gas is also used however it is not consistent year round and is not equally accessible amongst
the different households in the village. Biogas is currently being used is some households and is made from
the plentiful amount of free buffalo and cow dung that mixed with water and fed into the reactor daily. The
sludge then comes out the back of the processor and is used on the fields. One woman from the
community explained that due to having access to biogas, she has gas year round and that the benefits
include no smoke when cooking and it is much more economical.
ENERGY DESIGN PROJECTS
NEWAH has identified the following energy projects. Students are invited to address a single issue or
provide an integrated design solution for two or more design areas. Alternative projects may also be
considered.
3.1 ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SUPPLY
A combination of mains electricity, batteries and kerosene lamps and occasionally solar are used as an
energy source in this region. Mains electricity is preferred but is often unreliable. Your task is to design an
alternative and sustainable energy supply for the hill top communities. NEWAH is also interested in
investigating the feasibility of micro hydro for both energy and water supply and so you may wish to
include this in your analysis of alternative technologies and solutions.
problems throughout the community. In Sandikhola, however, a few houses have biogas stoves. The
women in these houses say that they like using the gas stoves and that there is no smoke from them. Your
task is to explore alternative cooking technologies for the hill top communities and compare them with the
current stoves and the biogas systems already in place.
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There are no central waste management facilities in the hill areas, which can pose tremendous challenges
when it comes to disposing and processing non-organic waste materials. Disposing of organic waste is
handled in a variety of ways that include feeding left over food scraps to animals. Agricultural waste goes
into individual household pits for composting and animal waste goes into compost and into agricultural
fields. In rural areas there isnt a process for separating the agricultural, food scraps and waste materials
during the composting stage prior to mixing them into the fields.
The waste materials commonly found in the hill areas include: plastic bottles, plastic bags, glass bottles and
wrappers from snacks such as candy bars and lollies. The lack of appropriate disposal options means that
there is a build up of waste continues to be an issue. The current system of disposing solid waste such as
burning it or taking it to a larger dump is not a long-term solution. There have been steps to encourage
members of the community not to throw waste on the ground, by providing large bags within the
community where people can put their recyclable materials. The topography of the area requires the
houses to be in close proximity of each other and the amount of animal waste around the houses is an
issue as it encroaches into other peoples areas.
NEWAH has been involved in a long-term study examining different attitudes towards handling of waste
and sludge in the communities that they work, which will further inform what techniques can be put in
place to handle waste management issues.
sludge management. This solution should take into consideration community health, the environment and
the potential uses for this by-product.
4.4 COMPOSTING
Currently some agricultural waste and animal waste are collected and composted in pits for use on the
fields. Your task is to explore composting methods for the hill top communities and design a system to have
the maximum benefit for the farmers.
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Women transporting sand to a construction site by strapping the bags to their backs and heads, Sandikohla, 2013
The community of Sandikhola is located at 1,259 metres in the Gorkha district. The village itself sits in three
sections along the hillside with crops, houses and livestock spread out. The roads are compacted and
walkways are either made out of stone or compacted earth. Sandikhola is accessible by road, however the
road conditions create significant transportation challenges, especially during the rainy season. The road is
shared two-ways by vehicles and livestock and extremely steep and narrow.
One can access the community by public transportation by taking two different local buses and a walking
bridge (~6 hours from the major city of Bharatpur) or one local bus and walking (~1/2 hour bus ride and 6-7
hour walk from Bharatpur if there is a strike). Strikes, or bandhs, are common in Nepal and most services
such as transportation will cease to run for the duration of the strike.
The rainy season causes many road problems such as landslides and road bridges being washed out. Sheep,
goats, mules and yaks are all used to transport goods to the hill and plain areas. Currently animal and
human waste is a problem, as there are large amounts of manure on the roads.
Manual labour is also readily used and is a common option when vehicles can be used. Children will often
walk between 1 3 hours a day to the community for school (grades 1-3), depending on what neighbouring
village. There is another school (grades 4-10) 1-hour walk roundtrip that provides additional education for
villages in the area. There are many walking bridges in the region that are of award winning and there is a
over-river pulley system that is effective when needing to transport good into Sandikhola from areas
separated by rivers, such as Bharatpur.
goods are carried up and down the hills in bags strapped to the peoples backs. There are pulley systems to
carry goods horizontally across the rivers and ravines but nothing in place to help people carry goods up
and down the hills. Your task is to design a solution to carry goods up and down the hills.
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Manually checking the flow of water from a natural spring in Sandikohla, 2013
The use of mobile phones in Nepal is widespread, with most individuals owning one. Nepal is looking to
implement a 3G system but it is expensive and will take time to be effectively implemented countrywide.
There is no Internet in remote areas, such as Sandikhola, and limited computers available. The lack of
Internet access makes collecting, storing and backing up data extremely difficult for NEWAH, as well as
other organisations working in remote communities. Collecting data in these rural communities is also a
large time commitment for NEWAH and not efficient in sharing and monitoring information between the
organisation and the communities that they work in. Data is currently collected by hand and stored only in
hard copy. A SMS program then compiles all of the data, however the system adds to concerns about data
security.
ICT PROJECTS
NEWAH has identified the following ICT projects. Students are invited to address a single issue or provide
an integrated design solution for two or more design areas. Alternative projects may also be considered.
6.1 AUTOMATED DATA RECORDING SYSTEM
NEWAH records data on water flows and levels to monitor the health of the natural springs and waterways.
Currently this data is recorded manually and requires a person to walk to the data recording point and take
measurements at regular intervals. NEWAH is interested in exploring the possibility of an automated data
recording equipment to make this process less labour intensive. It would also be great to see an automated
data recording system coupled with an automatic report generation system.
Computer literacy is low in rural areas and so the incorporation of training will be integral to the
success of any project within the district.
The availability of different types of hardware and infrastructure should be considered, i.e. how
many people have access to computers, smartphones, etc.
Cost should be kept to a minimum so that the design is affordable for members of the community.
Mains electricity is unreliable. Alternative power supplies or portable power supplies may also be
considered as part of the design.
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Changing weather patterns, depleting natural resources and an increase in natural disasters are all climate
change related issues that have been a focus area of growing concern within Nepal. Recent glacial breakage
and melting in the cities of Pokhara and Mansulu resulted in the deaths of trekkers and have highlighted
the importance on focusing on disaster preparedness and community awareness programs for
communities across Nepal, including the areas that NEWAH works in. Flash floods are also common.
Changes in rainfall patterns have impacted the flowering of flowers and fruits, as well as harvesting
patterns of crops. These changing patterns have direct impacts on reliable food supplies and food security
issues have been identified. NEWAH has a classification system for community households related to the
amount of food they have access to over a given time period. The 3 classifications are: ultra poor (enough
food for 3 months); poor (enough food for 6 months); and better/medium (enough food for 12 months).
These classifications are also impacted by income generated and the disparity amongst households is
visible in villages such as Sandikhola.
There are also concerns that pesticides used on existing crops could begin to contaminate water sources,
when used in areas close to existing water flows or in areas where the water table is unknown. There are
also a growing number of flies and mosquitoes found in the northern hill areas, which increase the chance
of disease.
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CONTACT US
The EWB Challenge is coordinated by Engineers Without Borders Australia and implemented in conjunction
with universities internationally.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
To participate in the EWB Challenge or for general enquires in Australia or New Zealand please contact:
Jenny Turner
EWB Challenge Coordinator
Engineers Without Borders Australia
Email: j.turner@ewb.org.au
Phone: +61 3 9329 1166
Hayley Allen
Education and Training Officer
Engineers Without Borders Australia
Email: h.allen@ewb.org.au
Phone: +61 3 9329 1166
UK AND IRELAND
To participate in the EWB Challenge or for general enquires in the UK or Ireland please contact:
Emily Mattiussi
EWB Challenge Manager
Engineers Without Borders UK
Email: emily.mattiussi@ewb-uq.org
Phone: +44 207 907 4393
Sylvia Roberge
Learning Programmes Administrator
Engineers Without Borders UK
Email: challenge@ewb-uk.org
Phone: +44(0)207 222 9177
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